I'll Be Your Knight In Shining Armour
by thirteenharmonies
Summary: "If your Prince Charming ever falls through, I'll be your knight in shining armour okay?" Beca never thought she needed to be saved, or that she would do the saving but Chloe seemed to change everything that she thought. And sometimes a knight wore dark plaid shirts. 9/?
1. Knight in Shining Armour

Beca Mitchell was not your go to person for anything relationship related, and definitely not when you were hurting. She was music smart and street smart, but when it came to human interactions? She didn't want to hear about it. She didn't even want to think about it. All she thought about was music, she breathed and lived it. Her blood pumped to the steady throb of the bass, her foot tapped incessantly to the changing beats, her fingers flew over the controls, tweaking this and tweaking that. All she saw was music, all the colours and emotions, all she felt was music, with its pounding bass and changing melodies and all she heard was the music blasting through her headphones. Her left hand tingled as she finally stopped tweaking and stopped to hear her finished product.

She smiled in spite of herself and closed her eyes, enjoying the music. This had been her seventeenth mix in the past month. That was an accomplishment in itself. It always took her days and days to fix and fine tune everything. But she was on a roll, she was churning out these crazy mixes like no tomorrow and she was proud of how they were turning out with just a day or two of work. As the final harmonies resounded in her ears, Beca opened her eyes and let out a self satisfied sigh. Maybe now that inspiration was finally drained and she could take a break. After all, she was turning into a total recluse again, spending hours locked up in her room. She couldn't help it, ideas flowed through her brain at a mile a minute and she struggled to get it all out of her head and onto a track.

Her left hand tingled again, she deserved a break, her hand was totally cramping up from all that mixing. Or what she thought was her hand cramping turned out to be her phone that she had unknowingly rested her hand on her phone. Now the device lit up with again and Beca hastily grabbed it, jabbing at the buttons. It was probably Fat Amy again with another invite to some party or something. Beca had turned down the majority of them, it was no surprise with something this good flowing through her head, she just had to. Much to her surprise it wasn't Fat Amy, or Cynthia Rose, or Stacie. "Chloe," she read the sender out loud. The DJ removed her headphones and set them on her desk, tapping on the message.

This was curious, she had just seen the redhead earlier that morning, they had brunch together before Beca headed off to her third class of the day. With final exams coming up, Beca barely had time for anything. She spent her mornings and a bit of her afternoon in class, then the rest of the afternoon studying with various people at random places around campus before heading out to the radio station for a shift before returning to her room to mix till she fell asleep at her desk. It was rare for her to actually sit down and have a proper meal, but the redhead was helping her edit her papers so she couldn't really say no. Since the ICCA finals, she had spent a lot more time with Chloe. She saw the redhead regularly before the finals, but now that time had increased dramatically. In place of the three hour long Bellas rehearsal, they often had three hour long study sessions, just the two of them. Usually Beca sat there, trying to read through Chloe's old notes while the ginger danced around the room to one of Beca's latest mixes.. More often than not though, very little work got done and it was spent just hanging out. There was a bond between the two that neither could really explain, nor was there a need to.

"Hey! Can we talk, face to face?" the text read, Beca furrowed her brow slightly. Didn't she say she was going to surprise her boyfriend tonight and go visit him? Confused she texted her typical reply to anything Chloe asked. "Sure." The message had barely left her phone when there came a knock at her door. Surprised, Beca ran her fingers through her chocolate locks and hurriedly shoved her arms through a dark flannel shirt she had tossed over the back of her chair earlier. She probably looked like crap after spending all that time at her desk. She crossed her dorm in three strides and yanked open the door with a teasing grin already on her face.

"That was quick, did you spend like twenty minutes waiting at my doo- oh my goodness, Chlo, what's wrong," Beca stopped midway of teasing Chloe as she caught sight of the ginger as the door swung open. Her usually perfect hair was wild and messy, her sapphire blue eyes were as red as her hair and her face was covered in streaks of makeup and tears. Her only reply was a strangled sob and the co-captain of the Bellas collapsed into her arms. "Shhh, Chlo, I'm right here," she lead the girl over to her bed and sat her down as the door swung shut. "Please don't cry, everything's going to be all right, shhhh, it's okay," she had one hand on Chloe's back rubbing circles comfortingly and the other one in her flaming red locks, smoothing them out.

"H-he's c-cheating on me!" Chloe cried in between sobs, her hand clenched a handful of Beca's shirt, twisting it in her fist as the girl cried into her shoulder. "Oh," was all Beca could manage for the moment, stunned that anyone would do that to the ginger in her arms. She understood now, Chloe had been going on about this guy for ages now, Brad. Handsome, super ripped track star who was the sweetest guy that she had ever met. He had showed up to all of the Bella's major events yelling his support loudly in the front row and liked to surprise Chloe randomly with gifts. Little things, flowers, chocolate, everything that Beca thought was cheesy and cliche but Chloe adored.

"Where's Aubrey, I'm gonna sick all the Bellas on his good for nothing ass," her stunned reaction had rapidly transformed into a seething fury. Beca got up to grab her phone from her desk, ready to kick some athlete butt.

Or she would've had a hand not grabbed her wrist, preventing her from leaving. She looked down at Chloe's tearstained face with that desperate look in her eyes that made Beca's heart twist painfully. "B-bree's on a date. Don't bother her," Chloe's voice was small and quiet as her sobs slowed, something that Beca wasn't used to at all and was troubled by. Typical Chloe, always the considerate one, even when she was hurting, she put others first.

"Okay, I won't bother Aubrey," Beca replied gently, returning to her bed and wrapping her arms around the older Bella comfortingly.

* * *

It was almost another hour before Beca finally got the story out of Chloe.

"S-so I had swung by Brad's on campus room as a surprise to see if he wanted to go see that movie that he was raving about. That new action movie." Chloe was curled up under Beca's covers, huddled against Beca's side in the dimly lit room. It was an action movie of course. Beca knew that Chloe wasn't a huge fan of those and she also knew that this girl would to the ends of the earth for this guy.

"But when I got to his door, this half naked girl with Brad's track jersey on answered the door. And then Brad shows up behind her. And he tells her to go back into the room and he steps outside to talk to me," Chloe continued, struggling to keep her voice steady but it was still filled with varying emotions. Anger, hurt, sadness.

_"Listen Chl-"_

_"Who's that girl?" Chloe stared at the now closed door._

_"Lisa. Anyways, you weren't suppose to be here today-"_

_"Why her. Why Brad?! Why?! Was I not enough for you?! You were my everything! You were so sweet, so caring!" There was the resounding sound of flesh hitting flesh as Brad slapped her. _

_"Shut up! You weren't enough okay?! You were always so busy with this Belles thing and that Belles thing. And I always went to all the events and did all these things for you and how far did I get? I was lucky to get to make out with you! We haven't slept together once in the what five months we were together?! You weren't enough. Ever." Chloe backed up, hurt evident in her eyes as she held a hand to her face where he had slapped her. This was not happening. This was not the same sweet Brad that had showed up at Bella's rehearsal with a bouquet of roses just two months ago. This was a monster. She didn't know him. _

_She had been living a dream, and that dream was so brutally shattered with that slap. "You said we could take it slow," Chloe whispered in disbelief. There was a steady throbbing on the left side of her face, but the physical pain she felt was nothing compared to what she was feeling inside. It was like someone had shoved a thousand pieces of jagged glass into her heart. She wished that someone did. Then the pain would stop. Forever._

_"Yeah I said we could take it slow. But not that slow! You know why I got together with you? Not because you're beautiful, or you're smart, or for your personality. But because I heard, you were easy. My friends told me that you slept with like all the guys that wooed you a little bit. But when it was my turn. You changed. Something changed you, why couldn't you wait until after I was done with you?" _

_At that, something inside of Chloe snapped. "So you think I'm some sort of whore for you to use as you please? Well newsflash Brad. I'm done with you. We're done, forever. That is final. I'm glad I changed before I started dating you. Now I get to see you for who you really are. Just some stuck up, egotistic jerk with no eyes for anything but his own dick. Oh, and Brad. It's the Bellas." She spat in his face, furious. With that, Chloe strode down the hall and out of the building, managing to keep it together until she was far out of Brad's sight. She would not let him see her suffer for this. She was far too proud. _

_She ended up sitting by herself in a corner of the quad, under a tree, the sun was starting to set and there weren't a lot of students around as kids went to get dinner and things. She sat there for a long time, sobbing her heart out. Finally she took out her phone, ready to call Aubrey, her finger over her best friend's name when she remembered that the blonde was on a date. Still sobbing and now shivering as a cold wind picked up, she walked into the building, head down, her hair covering her face. She didn't know where her feet were taking her. But somehow, she ended up in front of Beca's door with her phone clutched in her hands._

"Chloe, listen, no. Listen to me. Look at me," Beca held the older woman's face in her hands forcing electric blue eyes to meet her own. "You are perfect. Brad is deluded. He doesn't see your beauty. You're amazing. He's just a self absorbed jerk. Let him go. You were always too good for him. Always. Don't you forget that. Don't let him get to you. Don't let him win. Okay? Shhh. Just sleep." Beca returned to rubbing circles on Chloe's back and running her fingers through wild scarlet locks. She was so glad that Kimmy Jin was at a friend's place tonight. With Chloe continually staining her shirt with tears, she didn't know what she would do.

* * *

Beca checked her phone after a while, 10:42 pm. Chloe was fast asleep on her bed, finally falling to sleep after what seemed to be an eternity of crying. Her stomach rumbled and Beca nearly chuckled out loud. After all of this, her hunger seemed such a menial thing to deal with. Carefully, she slipped out of bed, careful not to wake the slumbering redhead. Quietly, she changed her tear-soaked shirt and pulled on a hoody. She'd just pop out, grab something to eat and she'd be back before Chloe missed her.

At this time, most restaurants on campus were closed, there was a convenience store that was open 24/7 though luckily for her. She was paying for a box of Pop Tarts and a couple bottles of chocolate milk, Chloe's favourite, when she spotted him. Beca hadn't noticed him when she entered but he was unmistakeable when left, a box of condoms tucked under his arm. "The nerve of that guy," she muttered to herself as she grabbed her bag of things and before she knew what she was doing, she followed him out the store and down the sidewalk.

The campus was largely deserted because everyone was at one party at another, and Brad was walking alone. He had made Chloe cry, he broke her heart, and he was going to pay. "Hey asshole!" Beca half growled, surprised, Brad turned around to face her and was met with a solid right hook to the face. He stumbled back a few steps, clutching his face as blood began to spurt out of his nose. "You broke her heart you jerk. You don't date someone to get in their pants," Beca was beyond furious now as she shoved him into the wall, dropping her things.

"What, so Chloe sends her little bitch to get back at me?" Brad straightened up, wiping blood off of his face with the back of his hand. He took a swing at Beca, but Beca, having grown up on the streets, ducked under it and socked him in the face again, knocking him back. She hissed in pain, she hadn't punched anything in a long time and that hurt, a lot when her knuckles scraped by his teeth. Hopefully she knocked out a tooth or two.

Enraged, Brad rushed at her, growling, intent on tackling her. Beca knew that she could never outrun the track star, nor did she intend to. Swiftly, she sidestepped the male and unceremoniously tripped him by hooking her foot around his ankle. "How does the pavement taste?" She snarled, backing away from him as he picked himself up off of the ground. "Don't look so pretty now with your face all messed up," she taunted as he rushed her again.

Brad learned fast and this time, that sidestepping trick wasn't going to work on him again. He managed to catch Beca off guard with a wild punch to the abdomen and held her in a chokehold from behind. "I get what I want, nobody messes with me and gets away with it," he growled, tightening her hold around her throat. Beca had been in plenty of situations like this before, she learned fast too. Without another word, she drove her elbow into Brad's ribs resulting in a oomph as the force of the impact drove all the air out of the male. Quickly, she followed that with a stomp, grinding her heel into his foot and then bit him viciously on the rapidly arm around her neck. Turning, she punched him in the eye again and the kicked him right where it hurts, as hard as she could, driving the toes of her converse into his groin.

It was over before it began. He lay curled up in fetal position, much like Chloe was before on her bed, but on the sidewalk. "Apologize to Chloe tomorrow morning. And it had better be sincere. Or you might get another late night visit from me. And this time, I might bring the rest of the Bellas with me. I'm sure Aubrey would love to get her hands on the bastard who hurt her best friend, and Fat Amy might want to try some crocodile wrestling moves on you. This is your only warning, she'll be in my room, room 12 in the east wing by the cafeteria. And after that, you had better disappear from her sight," she rested her foot on his head for a moment as she caught her breath. Her side hurt right now where he had caught her with a punch but that was nothing compared to her right hand. It was slightly swollen and she was sure her knuckles were bruised and there was a small gash where his tooth had caught her fist.

Still filled with adrenaline from that fight, she picked her things and started running as fast as she could back towards her dorm room. She couldn't believe she did that.

* * *

Thankfully, Chloe was still sleeping peacefully when Beca returned to her dorm. She had stopped by the bathrooms to run her bruised hand under cold water and that had eased some of the pain. She had just put away the things she bought and was changing out of her clothes, which had some blood splatters on it from Brad, when she heard Chloe whimper. Beca froze, she knew that whimper. When she was little, and every now and then still, she'd get night terrors. Her sister video taped one of these particular nights and it had been forever on replay in the back of Beca's head, blocked out by the music.

Now there was nothing, no music to block it out. "Get a grip Beca," she told herself firmly as she dropped her dirty clothes into the laundry basket. Quietly, she slipped into bed with the red head and wrapped her arms around her, softly stroking her hair. "You shout it loud, but I can't hear a word you say. I'm talking loud, not saying much. I'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet. You shoot me down, but I get up. I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose. Fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away. You shoot me down, but I won't fall. I am titanium," she sang quietly into Chloe's ear. She felt the girl relax more and more in her arms and the two of them drifted into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

The next morning, it was Chloe that woke up first. Sunlight was streaming in through the parted curtains and she groaned, not realizing where she was. Her bed was so warm, so comfortable and she rolled over, snuggling further into the source of comfort. Whatever it was, it smelled faintly of strawberry shampoo, watermelon shower gel and green apple body lotion. It was familiar and a unique blend of some of her favourite scents. Beca, it smelled like Beca. Once that thought hit her, she opened her eyes. She wasn't in her room, that was for sure. Slowly she sat up, trailing her eyes over everything but not really taking it all in. What had she done last night? That's when the source of the warmth and smell stirred and rolled over, staring up at the ginger with sleepy eyes.

"Ugh what time is it," Beca grumbled, tiredly sitting up. Chloe stared at the DJ for a moment, struggling to remember what had led to them sharing this tiny sofa bed in Beca's dorm. "Ugh, its 9:23, I have class at 10:40," Beca yawned and slid out of bed. She stood and stared at the ginger with an unreadable expression on her face. "Are you okay Chlo? It's only Philosophy. It's a joke. I can stick around if you need me," Beca laid a hand comfortingly on Chloe's knee and offered her a small smile.

Oh. That's right, Brad. That's why. She steeled her emotions as she lifted her head to meet Beca's gaze. She had gotten the majority of the crying, if not more, out the night before. But for some reason, with the feeling of Beca's hand on her knee, the pain of Brad leaving her, didn't seem to hurt as much as it did before. Then she caught sight of Beca's battered hand on her knee. "Ohmygosh Becs, what happened to your hand?" she cried and grabbed Beca's wrist, careful not to touch the hand itself.

Usually, Beca would have pulled away right away but she let Chloe hold her injured hand up and examine it. "It's nothing. I went out to get some food last night and it was dark, and just tripped," Beca replied, slowly sliding her hand out of Chloe's. Chloe narrowed her eyes at the brunette, she wasn't falling for a lame excuse like that. She was about to question it further when there was a knock at the door. "Could you get that Chloe? I need to change", she had a feeling who that was at her door.

While the redhead got the door, Beca turned to her closet, her back to the door. She faced the mirror and lifted up her shirt slightly, enough to reveal her midsection and the angry bruise on her side. She prodded it gently and winced, it was going to hurt for a while. "Brad?!" so the bastard was keeping his word. Knowing what was coming, she let her shirt drop and turned to find something to wear.

Chloe stood at the door, a mix of emotions tearing through her. Despite how much Brad had hurt her, she still had some feelings left for him, not a lot, but they were still there. She was angry, sad, yet concerned at his appearance. He was now sporting a split lip, a black eye and had a bandage wrapped around his arm. "What happened?" She asked, half out of concern, half out of curiosity.

"Oh uhm, a fight broke out last night at this bar," Brad replied, scratching the back of his neck. "But, yeah. I'm not here to ask you to take me back or anything. I know I hurt you like real bad, and I'm like really sorry and I hope you'll uh forgive me. I totally understand if you don't though. And uh here, I brought you a box of your favourite chocolates. And uh, yeah! I'm very sorry Chloe! I'll see you around!" He nervously gave her the box of chocolate before taking off with a slight limp.

Well, that was probably the most sincere apology that he had ever made in his life, Beca would give him that. She winced as she pulled her shirt on, not noticing that Chloe had turned around with the box of chocolate in her hands. "Beca, that bruise. You did not," Chloe caught sight of the dark bruise marring the DJ's abdomen. After seeing Brad, and now seeing Beca. She put two and two together. "You beat up Brad?!"

Beca groaned, she knew that Chloe would find out one way or another. But she didn't think it would be this quick. She pulled the rest of her shirt on and turned around to face the redhead, who was a lot closer to her than she expected. "Chlo. You didn't think that he'd apologize to you on his own did you?" Chloe bit her lip and held Beca's injured hand gingerly, looking at it. "Look, I didn't go looking for him okay? I ran into him at the convenience store last night and he was buying condoms. Condoms Chloe! He's unbelievable and I just couldn't help myself."

Beca sighed, the redhead wouldn't meet her eyes. She cupped the ginger's face and brought it up so that she would look at her. "Look at me. Just a busted hand and a bruise. Its no big deal. You saw Brad, I got him good. Any price that I have to pay was totally worth it okay. Nobody messes with my friends and gets away with it. Especially not you. Please don't be angry me Chlo. I was just looking out for you."

"I'm not angry with you Becs, I don't think I could ever be. I'm just speechless that you'd do something like this for me. What if you get in trouble Becs, You could get expelled for this," Chloe replied, concern evident in her eyes and voice. There was just this warm feeling at the pit of her stomach as she came into realization at what this crazy DJ had done.

At this Beca smirked, "Please, as if Brad would ever tell anyone that this awesome DJ chick beat him up. He'll be the laughingstock of the entire campus. If he tells, I can guarantee that he won't be a sexually viable option for any girl around here or any where else. I'm pretty sure the pretty boy will keep his mouth shut." She dropped her hand from Chloe's face and opted for toying with the hem of her shirt, their close proximity was making her blush.

"So, Ms. Awesome DJ chick has this all figured out hmm," Chloe teased pulling Beca into a grateful hug.

"Yes I do," Beca replied teasingly, returning the hug. Then her tone got more serious, "Look Chloe, if your Prince Charming ever falls through, I'll be your knight in shining armour okay?" She didn't even know what she was saying. And goodness that sounded so weird coming out of her mouth. "That's what friends are for right?"

Chloe's mind reeled, she broke the hug and stared at the DJ, she seemed to be doing a lot lately. What was Beca saying, was there some other meaning to her words? That maybe Beca reciprocated her feelings? But all her hopes were dashed as she heard Beca's last sentence. "Right," she forced a smile. Even if Beca didn't feel that way, being friends with the DJ was still better than nothing. "So what am I? Your damsel in distress?"


	2. A Dark Knight

**AN: **So thanksyou to everyone who read this fanfic and those who reviewed. And special shout out to BG-13 who got my "reference" if you'll call it that in the first chapter. I was surprised that someone got it, but happy nonetheless. I do have an end in mind for this story, but I'll see how it plays out. So once again, thanksyou to your overwhelming support. I love this fandom. Enjoy the new chapter and reviews are much appreciated. :D

* * *

It had only been nearly been a week since the Brad incident and strangely, Brad was the last thing on Chloe's mind. She had spent the couple of days following that incident in almost total recluse. She turned her phone off and spent a lot of time trying to figure out what exactly she wanted. Some how, somewhere deep inside her, something knew that this ending with Brad was inevitable. She really needed to stop meeting guys at the club. That was probably part of her problem. The other part was what she wanted. She wanted a relationship, not a fling. She had many of those in the past and had grown tired of them. They were sexually fulfilling, but something about waking up in a strange bed, in a strange room with a stranger beside you and not a lot of memory of the previous night was just draining.

She decided that she wanted someone that would be there for her, cuddle with her on the couch, watch stupid tv shows with and go on walks with. Someone that could make her laugh and she could make laugh. They had to like music of course, preferably create it, be witty, intelligent and put up with all her craziness. Chloe contemplated whether or not this was too much, her standards were too high. Her standards had never been a problem before, but that was when she was picking up guys at the club, as long as they were hot and eager, she was fine with them.

But then came Beca. She had been brainwashed by that DJ. Chloe decided that Beca was right. Maybe she did deserve better, she definitely wanted better. Ever since the day that she had met Beca at Activities Fair, something in Chloe had slowly changed. She stopped having random flings with a different guy each fling. When she had that little run in with Beca in the showers, she had been with Tom for the fourth time. She also dated Tom briefly for about a week and a half before Brad too. Back then she also decided that she wanted a relationship, but about two days in with that decision, she also found it to be rather difficult. That's how she ended up with Brad. She compromised her standards, meeting only about half of them when she chose Brad.

This time, she would make sure she fulfilled every single blasted one. Somewhere along the way, she decided that her someone had to stand up for her, protect her, not that she needed protecting. Chloe didn't know where that one came from. There was just something in the back of her head that found it incredibly attractive when Beca beat up Brad for her sake. For someone to go to that length for her? It was hard not to be attracted. Not that she liked Beca or anything. They were friends, just friends, close friends, best friends. And friends did that kind of thing for each other, watched each others' backs.

Whoever they were, they had to be a knight, her knight. Wait, wasn't Beca her knight? So then she wanted Beca? Chloe paused her writing, she had a sheet of paper out before her, systematically writing down everything that she had decided upon. Where had that thought even come from? Sure she liked the brunette, but they were friends. And she didn't even know if Beca liked her back. Frowning, she settled for drawing a little doodle of a knight's helmet at the bottom of the page. Then, she added a set of oversized headphones to the helmet as an afterthought.

She probably didn't actually like Beca, yes, she had a girl crush on the crazy DJ since the day they met. And yes that was right. She had been hurting that day when she showed up at Beca's door. Seriously hurting, she was there and she had protected her. Beca had seen her when she was at the lowest of her lows and hadn't judged her. It was just a thing, a girl crush on a friend who had been there for her she decided. There was no way that there was anything there. Nothing there.

Currently, said redhead was texting Aubrey from the library. She had been studying for her finals there for the past while but she kept getting distracted and she kept thinking of that list she had made. The actual piece of paper itself was hidden in the back of a picture frame on her wall in her room. Nobody would ever think to look there, not that anybody would even be looking.

"So you're okay now right?" Aubrey was still in her super over protective best friend mode. She was the only one that Chloe had told what exactly went down that night she went out on her date. The look of shock on Aubrey's face when Chloe told her what Beca did was pretty much the same one that she had on when she realized what the DJ had done. "The aca-midget did what?" were Aubrey's exact words actually. And despite all the reassurances from the redhead, Aubrey still insisted on ensuring that she actually was.

"Yes Bree, for the millionth time, I am fine," Chloe replied pressing the keys on her phone a little too hard, a little exasperated at her best friend's antics.

"Wanna go grab some coffee? I have some time to kill before my date with Daniel," Chloe grinned at Aubrey's text. This would provide a good opportunity for her to grill Aubrey on this new guy that she was seeing. She had yet to have met the guy and Aubrey was especially secretive with this one.

"Alright, that new place nearby then?" Maybe if she was lucky, the barista would be a hottie, or there would be a cute guy sitting around by himself. Coffee shops was definitely better than clubs.

* * *

Beca slammed her textbook shut, sick of studying for the day. She hadn't seen Chloe since she had shown up at her door crying days ago. The redhead hadn't responded much to her texts or calls either. Her replies were often sporadic and she never got a call back from Chloe either. Beca suspected Aubrey was taking care of the ginger and she was in good hands now. If anybody knew how to deal with Chloe, it would be the uptight blonde captain of the Bellas.

"Becaaaaa," the DJ couldn't help but roll sigh and roll her eyes as she heard her name in that stupid drawl that her boyfriend so often greeted her with. Jesse stood in the doorway with some juice pouches and an ice pack. The swelling on her hand had gone down a lot but sometimes it still hurt, especially when she was tense. She had managed to convince Jesse that she was really stressed from all the exams and she ended up punching her door as a method of stress relief. It was the closest to the truth that Beca could get without actually telling him.

Jesse seemed to believe for the most part, which was a relief because Beca didn't think she could put up with Jesse finding out about what she had really done. "Just what I need," she grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She sighed as she laid the ice pack over her hand and took the offered juice pouch that Jesse had so kindly put the straw in for her. Always so thoughtful he was. He settled down on her bed and she couldn't help but stare, the contrast between her boyfriend and the ginger that had been there, curled up, crying was so different.

She couldn't get her thoughts away from the redhead, she couldn't help but worry. The image of the tear stricken Chloe, whimpering in the middle of the night was so vivid in her mind's eye. Those electric blue eyes, red with tears. It was all so vivid that she had to take a moment and remind herself that Chloe was okay now.

"Becaaaaa, you okay?" Jesse paused in the middle of his rant about Star Wars when he noticed Beca staring at the bed with a faraway look in her eyes. She had been more quiet than usual lately, and he didn't really know why.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just had a busy day. I was just thinking," she finished the rest of her juice pouch and tossed it in the bin. "Oh goodness, it's almost 4. I have a shift at the radio station," she scrambled to her closet to find something to wear.

"Are you seriously dressing up to go stack CD's?" Jesse eyed the outfit that Beca had picked out and was looking at in the mirror.

"I have a gig right after my shift at the station Jesse, while you might think highly of our job of stacking CD's, I still want to go places," she teased as she finally decided on an outfit.

The boy on her bed pouted, feigning hurt at her words. "Please, you get to host like four shows a week at the station. I still haven't been allowed to set foot in the booth yet. Besides, what could be better than stacking CD's with me?" He got up, and drew her in for a hug.

"How about not stacking CD's in general. That'd be great. Yeah yeah Jesse, I need to get changed. I'll see you tomorrow," she hugged him and pressed a kiss into his cheek, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Once the boy let himself out, Beca changed into her outfit and checked her make up. She had CD's to stack and a gig to play. Life just might be going her way.

* * *

"So, Danny huh? Moved past just calling him Daniel, or that guy," Chloe had continued trying to study distractedly for another two hours before going to meet up with Aubrey. The sun was setting, covered by a heavy layer of thick grey clouds, by the time they jumped into the cab. It was almost a five-minute drive to the new coffee place. It was a cozy place too, comfortable armchairs around small wooden tables, several mismatched plush sofas was pushed up against one wall with coffee tables that you normally found in living rooms. Chloe gave Aubrey a teasing look and a half smirk, she was going to get to the bottom of this mystery guy. Then she paused, where did that smirk even come from? Chloe Beale did not smirk, or half smirk. She had been hanging out with Beca far too much it seemed.

Unfortunately, Aubrey capitalized on her opportunity to change the subject and went for it. "I'm impressed Chlo, even got her trademark half smirk down to a 't'" Aubrey took a sip of her latte and raised her eyebrows in amusement. "How's our favourite little aca-midget doing?"

Chloe shrugged nonchalantly in reply, "I haven't seen her since then, I've been busy, she's been busy. We lead separate lives Bree, we're separate people remember. Why is it that you always think that I know what Beca is up to?"

"Could've fooled me, don't you like always text her and hang out and stuff?" Aubrey replied, glad that she had successfully changed the subject.

"I always hang out and text you Bree. Do I know where you are all the time?" Chloe countered, raising her eyebrow slightly. Where was this conversation even going?

"Most of the time," Aubrey quipped teasingly as her phone lit up. The blonde picked it up and as she read the text message, a smile graced her features. "Well Ms. Beale, I will be at Le Poisson Rouge tonight and the at the theaters. I enjoyed having coffee with you, you okay to get home by yourself? It looks like it might rain." The blonde cast a skeptical eye on the gloomy skies above. Not a star in sight.

"I'll just call a cab Bree, I'm old enough to handle myself. Go enjoy your date. I expect juicy deets tomorrow morning," Chloe grinned and gave her best friend a wink. The redhead watched as Aubrey walked out of the coffee shop and climbed into silver sedan, complete with tinted windows. Unfortunately, the angle was just right for the curtain to cover the face of Aubrey's date and she couldn't get a good look. With Aubrey out of the picture, Chloe pursed her lips and ran through her options. The night was still fairly young, she could head home, change and head out to a club for the night.

But then she really thought about it and the club option seemed less appealing to her. What was she going to do, go out, get wasted and end up in some guy's bed? She had decided that she didn't want that already. Maybe she'd just stick around the coffee shop, she had a couple of her books on her, she hadn't bothered returning home to drop them off. And besides, that barista was kind of cute. Her mind made up, Chloe ordered a double espresso and pulled out her textbooks, she had all the muscles in the human arm to memorize.

* * *

Beca was having the time of her life. This was what she wanted to do. Music blaring in her headphones and over the speakers. Lights from her laptop and buttons on the soundboard and turntable illuminated her face. Below her, strobe lights and lasers flashed on the dance floor. The crowd below her responded really well to what she was playing over the speakers. She had already received several drinks sent to her booth from quite a few people, guys and girls alike. Grinning, Beca's hands wove their way through the controls, switching seamlessly from one track to the next. If she kept it up, she might have a solid gig for a while yet.

Pleased, she took a step back from the DJ equipment that the club had provided and took a sip a bottle of water. She had ignored the line of various drinks, preferring to stay completely sober to spin her tracks. She didn't want the alcohol messing with her system, she had seen more than her fair share of drunk DJ's trying to spin, not a pleasant sight, or sound. Plus, she could enjoy her music better when she was sober. Beca checked the time on her laptop. It was nearly midnight. Her gig ended at midnight, as a rookie DJ to the public, the club owner had hired her as an opener to one of the more popular DJ's around town. She would play until the crowd really picked up, which was midnight.

Sighing, she turned around to see a heavily tattooed guy standing there with a grin on his face. "I like it, shortstuff," the guy had jet black spiked hair and ear piercings in each ear. Beca nodded, "Thanks. It's a good crowd." She moved over and started packing up her stuff, making sure that one last track was playing. She finished getting all her stuff together and left the booth as fast as she could.

The club owner was waiting for her outside of the booth and her greeted Beca with a nod. "Your pay," he smiled at her and handed her an envelope with cash in it. Beca opened the envelope and counted the money inside, her eyes widened as she did and pulled out two of the bills, "You gave me an extra two hundred." She hoped this wasn't some crazy test from the owner about testing her honesty or something.

"Don't worry kid, you deserved it. If the music is good, the kids dance more, if they dance more, they get thirsty faster. That means my bars down there earn more. And they're crazy busy tonight. You're good kid, you'll be going places, I'll contact you later for another gig," with a pat on the back, the owner left, leaving Beca standing there mouth gaping.

* * *

"Miss? We're closing up now," Chloe looked up to see one of the barista's, table-cloth in hand, standing before her.

"Shit," Chloe swore when she checked the time on her watch. She had been really into studying, maybe because they made really good double espresso's here. She had finally gotten down to it without getting distracted by anything. Apologizing, she shoved all her things into her bag and hurried out the door. "Shit, shit, shit," she mumbled, rifling through her bag and finally pulled out her phone. It was dead. That's what she got for not charging it. She turned around to see if she could borrow the telephone from the coffee shop but the doors were already locked and the barista had vanished.

Maybe she could walk, all the stores around her were dark, the coffee shop being the last thing to close. She had passed a bus station on her way here in the cab with Aubrey. There would be a phone there somewhere, a pay phone, and if not, buses. She'd get back to Barden somehow. Her mind set, she looked up at the pitch black sky, Aubrey had said there would be a storm tonight, she'd better hurry home, nobody wanted to get caught in a storm in the dead of night by themselves.

Chloe set off at a brisk pace, pulling her cardigan closer around her as winds blew wildly around her, signaling the coming of the storm. She was totally not prepared for the weather. It had been fairly nice out earlier today and the forecast hadn't predicted any storms but of course, the meteorologists were wrong and here she was, smack dab before one.

She had been so bent on getting to that bus station that she didn't notice a guy standing there, leaning against the wall of a store, watching her. He wasn't hard to miss though, dressed in a dark jacket and she had her head down, braving the winds.

"Hey there sweet thing, what do you say to getting out of this storm together and heading back to my place," he drawled, a smoking cigarette between his fingers. Chloe barely looked up to acknowledge him before quickening her steps. She felt around for the Barden rape whistle that was usually in her pocket, but she it wasn't there. Neither were her keys, because they were attached to the whistle by a lanyard. She wasn't going to be able to get into her room tonight.

"Hey, hey, hey, slow down there. Where you going so fast in the middle of the night, all by yourself," far quicker than Chloe could've expected, he was in front of her, blocking her path. It was beginning to drizzle now, fat rain droplets falling slowly, heralding the start of a torrential deluge. Chloe took several steps back in surprise, trying not to let anything on her face. This guy was a total creep, he smelled like cigarettes and old booze. And his hair was so greasy that it seemed like this rainstorm was going to be his first semi-shower in days.

"You're a pretty one, why don't we get out of the rain? My place isn't far from here," she hadn't even noticed that she had backed into a wall now. The rain was pouring heavily now, her cardigan easily getting soaking through. She shivered, at the mercy of the cold rain and the buffeting winds. He continued walking towards her, Chloe had nowhere to run, she was cornered. The guy was so close to her that she could see the grizzly stubble on his chin and smell the stench of cigarettes on his breath.

She held her breath, her eyes wide, afraid to speak. The street was empty, nobody was out and about at this time, and definitely not with a storm like this. She raised her arms defensively and tried to push him away, but he was easily resisted her and caught both her wrists with one of his grimy hands. He leaned in closer, easily ignoring Chloe's attempts to struggle or get away. "You know you want it," he whispered in her ear and trailed several sloppy kisses down her cheek. "Don't make a sound and nobody gets hurt," he murmured into her skin. Chloe closed her eyes and braced for the worst.

* * *

Beca climbed into her car, still in a trance. The cool night air carrying the promise of rain helped clear her head a little. Never before had she earned so much in a single gig. She probably earned a month's worth of pay at the radio station and this time she got to do what she wanted. Sure, being able to play her music and host shows were awesome and she enjoyed it, but being able to see and feel the crowd respond to her music was just something else entirely. That taste of what it was like to DJ live was what she wanted, dreamed of, lived for. That was her ultimate goal.

This gig gave her a similar rush to what she had performing at the ICCA finals. Just to be able to make music and have the crowd go wild and respond. She had gotten her taste and she was easily addicted. Smiling stupidly, started her car and hooked up her phone to the stereo in her car. Her father had bought her this old Mustang as a gift after winning the ICCA finals. It wasn't the best car ever, but it was this mesmerizing shade of blue and it could take her places. The first thing Beca did was spend nearly two month's worth of pay on a brand new stereo system. There was not a hope in hell that her ride could not play her mixes to her standard.

She revved her engine and backed out of the parking lot. It seemed nothing would deter people from showing up to the club, she mused as she pulled away, bass lines throbbing. The rain was coming down in buckets, scratch that, oil drums. Grimacing, Beca slowed down, weary of the slick roads. Even she just hit the jackpot with this last gig, she didn't want to have to spend money getting her car fixed. Her money was going into a rainy day fund, maybe a new turntable, or headphones. Both items were getting a little bit worn out.

Windshield wipers, working at max, struggled to clear Beca's field of view from the torrents of water. But something made Beca pause, something on the side of the street. It was just a glimpse, but it was enough to make her stop and reverse to look again.

* * *

Chloe whimpered, "P-please, please. S-stop. I'll give you all my money and valuables. Anything you want but this." This could not be happening to her. It had to be a dream, but she knew it to be not true. Was this her inevitable end? Her wrists hurt from the iron grip that the guy was holding her in with just one hand. Never had she felt more vulnerable and scared before in her life. His other hand was moving idly down her soaking wet shirt as he trailed messy kisses down her jawline.

"But all I want is this," he whispered. She could feel his lips twitch upwards as he said this, still pressed against her. Just as she thought that he was going to start ripping her clothes off, he was gone. Surprised, and relieved, Chloe sank down to the floor, leaning heavily against the wall, her heart pounding still from that deadly situation. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the rain, washing everything away. She was soaked to the bone but she was glad that it was raining. It was washing everything away.

"Didn't you hear her. She said stop," a voice growled out and Chloe felt something warm and soft drape over her shoulders. A leather jacket. Automatically, Chloe drew the jacket around her more tightly and looked up at the dark figure now standing before her. She knew something was off, the jacket was too small to be for a man and the voice to high to be a man as well. The street lamp did not provide much illumination either as the guy struggled to pick himself off of the ground.

Quickly, the dark figure moved forwards and kicked the guy in the gut before he could get up again. Which also moved them into the light, allowing Chloe to see the darkened figure. Standing before Chloe was Beca Mitchell, in ripped jeans, a scarf and a navy shirt cradling her right hand. That had been what made the guy go flying backwards. A solid right hook to the face.

The guy groaned and rolled over onto his back in pain. Beca gritted her teeth in pain, she probably should've gone for a left hook instead but she didn't want to risk accidentally hitting Chloe, who was on that side. Her right hand was screaming in protest as she moved her fingers to check that none of them had been dislocated. What Beca had seen that had made her stop was a flash of red. Through the driving rain, a flash of red had somehow caught her eye. Confused, Beca had to stop and back up again, unsure of what was going on.

That's when she realized that flash of red was Chloe's wild hair. She was unsure if those were tears streaking down Chloe's face or if those were raindrops but she took one look at the guy that was practically throwing himself at her and got out of her car. Beca Mitchell usually would not get out of her nice, warm, dry car and into the pouring, cold, wet rain for anything. But something in her rose to the surface and without a second thought, she was crossing the street towards Chloe.

Beca ignored the rain and wind with ease, having ignored all of Aubrey's rants that she should take out her ear monstrosities, the weather was nothing. Her suspicions were confirmed when she neared and heard what Chloe was saying, pleading, begging. She snapped, and without any regards whatsoever, clocked the guy in the face. That was the second guy that she had clocked that week and her hand was paying the price after so many years of falling into disuse.

Realizing that this was their chance to escape, Beca coaxed Chloe to her feet. "Chloe, its Beca. Everything's alright. I'm right here. Nobody's going to hurt you. I'm here. Nobody can hurt you. Shhhh, it's okay," she let Chloe lean heavily into her side, practically carrying her the short distance to her car. Chloe wrapped her arms around the DJ, she never wanted to let go. There were all these emotions running through her as she sobbed hysterically into Beca's shoulder. Beca fumbled with the door handle a little bit but managed to get it open and helped Chloe into the passenger seat door. Chloe reluctantly let go of Beca as she settled into the seat, tears streaming down her face still, her eyes wide with terror. Upon seeing Chloe's expression, Beca hastily scrambled over to the driver's side and got in, shivering. The adrenaline had worn of quite a bit now and Beca found herself changing the music from what was originally playing to a softer and slower mix.

Fortunately, Jesse had left one of his blankets when he managed to convince Beca to go on a picnic with him in the rear seats. Beca grabbed it and wrapped Chloe up in it, still very sensitive with her touch. Chloe was still pretty freaked out right now, her heart was slowly slowing from its panicked rate and she leaned into Beca's touch, finding it very comforting. Beca decided that she should probably drive and get out of here before the almost rapist got up and decided to go after them.

She put the car into drive and drove down the street, headed back to Barden as fast as she possibly dared. Chloe's sobs had slowed dramatically now and she sat, knees pressed against her chest under Beca's jacket and the blanket. Completely out of her element now that the punching part was over, something in Beca made her reach out and take Chloe's hand, squeezing it comfortingly. She didn't let any pain show on her face when Chloe held her hand, which was the injured one, tighter with her shaking hands.

"I told you Chloe, if your Prince Charming isn't around. I'll be there to save you. Don't forget that. There's nobody who can hurt you. That guy is a beat up pile of shit on the road back there. He's gonna get run over by a semi and I won't be sorry. Everything'll be alright, I'm here," Beca managed to force the words out in a steady voice, not letting any of the pain that she was feeling in her hand, that was screaming in protest, show. The rest of the ride back to Barden was much like that. Chloe continued to cry, traumatized, while Beca murmured comforting things to her as she drove. Eventually, Chloe's sobs became silent with only rhythmic sniffles and shudders as the indication of how she was doing.

Finally, Chloe spoke after what seemed like an eternity of silence on her part. Her voice rasped from how long she hadn't spoken and from her crying. "E-everything will be alright," she repeated, reassuring herself. "'Cause you're my knight in shining armour."


	3. Knights Need Lifelines Too

**AN: Sorry about a shorter and late update guys. I have exams all week next week and I'm studying my butt off. I've started early, no procrastinating for me. So as a result my writing time has suffered quite a bit. I decided I'd get at least a chapter out tonight to maybe tide you guys over for a bit. I'll have more chapters come out after exams when I'm not as stressed. I may or may not have a second fic in the works that'll be out later too. So keep an eye out for that too. But enjoy and reviews and comments and things are welcome :D**

**Edit: There were a couple errors that I caught when going through it this morning. So I decided to fix them. Sorry about that. **

* * *

By the time Beca finally pulled into the Barden parking lot, Chloe crying had subsided, but she still held firmly onto Beca's injured hand much to Beca's chagrin. Fortunately, she was able to keep a straight face the entire drive back. Seeing how Chloe had no intention of disengaging her fingers from hers, Beca awkwardly shifted the gear to park and turned off the engine with her other hand. They sat in silence for a moment, Beca wondering how she was going to get out of her car without letting go of Chloe's hand.

"C-can I spend the night at your place?" Chloe whispered, almost so soft that Beca could barely hear the redhead. Beca looked at the redhead quizzically, Chloe and Aubrey's shared dorm room was closer to the parking lot, and a lot nicer than Beca's crappy freshman dorm. Plus Aubrey would be there as well, which was a plus because Beca didn't know what to do with Chloe. "I left my keys on my dresser," the redhead explained sheepishly.

"Of course," Beca could never say no to the redhead anyways. She untangled their fingers gently, it took a little bit of prying to do so. Beca waited till she had slammed the car door behind her to work some feeling back into her battered hand. When she got around to the passenger side of the door, Chloe was already fumbling with the door with trembling hands. Beca pulled open the door with ease and helped the ginger out of the car. Chloe's legs felt like jelly as she stood and ended up leaning heavily into Beca's side.

Hurriedly, Beca locked her car doors, slightly off guard and balance at the sudden addition of Chloe's weight. Luckily, Beca had parked fairly close to the Barden dorm building and despite the slow speed they moved at, they made it into the hallways without getting anymore soaked. The hallways weren't all that crowded at this time. It was slightly more crowded than usual due to most of the parties being cancelled due to the rain, but nobody gave them a second glance. Just two girls who had been caught out in the storm, the rain had accounted for their messy appearances, answering any questions.

Kimmy Jin wasn't in the dorm room, the Asian girl had gotten a bag together and left the other day, saying that she was going to spend a few weeks at a friend's dorm so that they could study, or something. Beca and the Asian girl had gotten along reasonably well for the past while now. They still didn't talk much, Beca would never expect them to, but it wasn't that awkward, or uncomfortable for that matter. Once they were in the dorm room, Beca sat Chloe down on her chair and retrieved a couple of towels from a drawer. "Chloe? Do you want to take a shower before you sleep? I know you're probably exhausted and cold, but you'll feel a lot better, and you'll be more comfortable," Beca peeled the soaking blanket off of Chloe's shivering form and tossed it into the laundry hamper.

"Yeah, I think I will," Chloe murmured, gratefully accepting a towel and wrapping it around herself. Beca gathered her shower things and two sets of pajamas. Then she led the trembling redhead down the hallways and to a familiar bathroom. "I remember this place..." Chloe trailed off, looking at her surroundings. She rarely ever came down this hallway back then, now it seemed like a daily occurrence and she had the entire place memorized inside and out. The freshmen bathrooms were still a place that she didn't visit despite her many trips to Beca's dorm room, and being here again brought her a strange sense of familiarity.

"Yeah, you busted into my shower, naked, and demanded that I sing for you," Beca commented wryly, placing a bottle of shampoo, conditioner and soap in one of the shower stalls. "Come on, we can do a shower duet this time too," Beca hung a fresh towel on the hook for Chloe and draped a set of clothes on the hook next to it. "But in separate stalls," Beca finished, giving the ginger a pointed look before disappearing into the adjacent stall.

"I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose, fire away, fire away. Ricochet, you take your aim, I am titanium," Beca sang over the sound of the rushing water, she could hear Chloe join in from the other side of the divider faintly. Still singing, Beca rinsed out all the soap suds from her hair, feeling completely at bliss under the torrent of hot water. She was startled out of her bliss, her voice nearly faltering as a bottle of shampoo landed near her foot, throwing up a small wave of water.

Cautiously, Beca picked up the bottle of shampoo and wandered out of the stall. She shivered as the cold air outside her stall met her skin. Dripping with water still, she poked her head into the redhead's stall, "Chloe?" The said ginger had been struggling to open the foreign bottle of shampoo and frustrated, the bottle had slipped out of her hands. She stood there, forlornly, staring at the spot where the bottle had hit the floor and slid under the divider. She barely even noticed when Beca awkwardly slid halfway into the shower, clutching the shower curtain to cover herself.

"Chlo, what's wrong?" Beca asked softly but ended up startling the woman when she reached out and touched her shoulder.

"It's nothing! Nothing, I'm okay. I'm just exhausted and my body just doesn't want to do anything," Chloe sighed once she realized that it was Beca in her shower.

"Just finish up your shower and we can sleep, I promise," Beca twisted open the cap with ease an squirted a palmful into her own palm. She managed to keep her eyes on Chloe's electrifying blue orbs as she offered the palmful of strawberry smelling liquid to Chloe. Chloe stared at the liquid tiredly for a moment before Beca decided to drop the bottle of shampoo in her own hand. "Here, turn around," Beca turned the redhead so that she now faced the wall. Before she could question her own thoughts, Beca started washing Chloe's hair.

Her sister used to do this for her when she was little. She had hated baths with a passion and sat there stubbornly, refusing to move. As a result, her sister had to wash her hair for her. Now on the other end of one, Beca knew exactly what to do. She wanted Chloe to relax, the hot water was definitely taking its effect, her muscles were less tense, but maybe this would help. Gently, she massaged Chloe's scalp, marveling at the silkiness of the ginger locks between her fingers. It took everything within Beca not to blush at their close proximity and their second shower encounter of the year.

She had a little bit of difficulty in reaching the top of Chloe's head, the ginger being a bit taller than her, but Chloe seemed to understand and tilted her head back, allowing her full access. Beca rinsed out the soap suds and then worked similar smelling conditioner through the scarlet locks before cowering in a corner with the shower curtain. Despite how close the two of them were and how much they had seen each other, Beca was still incredibly shy when it came to her own body. Chloe would always disagree with her, saying that she had nothing to be ashamed of, but it was just an obstacle that Beca just couldn't get over. "I'll go and finish my shower," Beca hastily backed out of the stall and retreated to her own stall.

The rest of the shower was finished in relative silence and Chloe spent most of it running her fingers through her hair, trying to replicate the soft touch of Beca's fingers on her scalp. In the other stall, Beca toweled off and got dressed in her sweats and old band shirt. Her damp hair was already starting to dry, she could dry it off back in the room with the hair dryer if she needed. "Chloe?" Beca called out tentatively, the sounds of rushing water had stopped a while ago. She wrapped her wet clothes up in her towel, she'd wash everything tomorrow morning.

"Hmm?" Chloe murmured, stepping out of the stall, her wet clothes wrapped in her towel in a similar fashion. She was wearing one of Beca's shirts and some sweats. The shirt had been big on the DJ but it fit Chloe's taller frame loosely.

"Let's head back to the dorm," Beca allowed Chloe's hand to wrap around hers without much complaint. The redhead had always been very touchy-feely with everybody, more so with the brunette, but since the events of late, Beca had let these things go. The walk back to the dorms was quiet, Beca humming softly under her breath and their footsteps and the worn down carpet being the only sounds.

By the time the two of them had reached the room, Beca could feel Chloe falling asleep, the way that she shuffled forwards without the upbeat lilt in her step. "There's a hair dryer on the dresser if you need it Chlo," Beca tossed the wet clothes into the laundry hamper as the hair dryer started up. When Beca turned around, Chloe had somehow managed to get her hair to look perfect despite her actually exhaustion. Beca didn't know how the ginger did it but she could feel a small smile creep up on her face as Chloe was starting to look a little bit like her former, cheery self.

Chloe looked up, catching Beca staring at her and responded with a tired half grin, "Thank you."

At this Beca was surprised, she looked away hastily, embarrassed that she had been caught. "It's, uh, my duty." Beca mumbled, playing the part. "I'll call Aubrey in the morning, and I'll go to the police station with you," Beca's field of vision found Chloe again, who was biting her lips, mulling it over. "Chloe! You were attacked! You have to tell the police, this guy needs to go behind bars. I don't think that he's gonna stop attacking girls just because I beat him up," Beca took the hair dryer out of Chloe's hands and placed it back on the dresser.

"Can we talk about it tomorrow morning? I just wanna sleep Beca," her voice was barely above a whisper and she looked so ragged that Beca wisely decided not to push the issue anymore.

"As you wish."

* * *

"Oh my- shit," Beca cursed as a flash of lightning lit up the night sky in a brilliant blast of white. She burrowed deeper into her covers and covered her head with her pillow. The petite woman braced herself for the- she flinched as an explosion of sound rattled the windows on the room. Whimpering, Beca curled herself into fetal position, forgetting that she was sharing the bed with someone.

"Mhmm? Beca? What's wrong?" Chloe woken up when Beca moved in the bed.

"Nothing! Go back to slee-" Beca yelped as another earth shattering boom echoed through the small dorm room. She shrunk deeper into the covers and wrapped her arms firmly around her knees.

"Beca? Honey, it just a thunderstorm, nothing to be afraid of. It can't hurt you," Chloe felt her way blindly through the blankets, trying to locate Beca.

"I k-know! It's so stupid! But-" Beca whimpered and jumped as something touched her shoulder blade.

"It's okay, it's okay. It's just me," Chloe reassured her and tugged Beca closer to her. "I'm right here," she murmured comfortingly as she drew Beca into her chest, rubbing her back soothingly.

"I'm sorry, this is just so stupid. It's silly," Beca's voice came out muffled, her face pressed into Chloe's collarbone. This fear that she had stalked her since childhood. She had hated them since she was young, mainly because she had been caught in one. There were only ever two traumatic incidents that had stayed with her since her childhood, and this was one of them. She had a tree fort when she was little, in the woods behind the house. She could still remember that traumatic day. It had been nice out, but as without warning, the skies had transformed into a dark, violent mass above her head.

Little Beca had spent the day in her tree fort, her beat up portable stereo blasting music. Even from a young age, music had a part in her life. Lyrics that she didn't understand and rhythms, harmonies and melodies she had yet to grasp were what she had surrounded herself with. By the time the radio interrupted one of her favorite songs with a storm warning, the raging storm had already amassed its army of thunderclouds, and it stood agitatedly, waiting to release the onslaught of rain on the world below.

So Beca ran, radio in tow. It was what she best at, running. When her parents fought, she ran. When her father stormed out of the house, she ran. When her mother stormed into the house, she ran. But sometimes, you couldn't run from everything. She couldn't run fast enough this time, and she was caught in the midst of a beast.

She could see the house, the dingy patio with its lopsided umbrella. It was so close, but her world came crashing down around her. The telephone pole near the house groaned and gave way, smashing into the fence with a brilliant shower of sparks. There was screaming, she could hear it. It wasn't until later that she realized that she was the one screaming. A flash of lightning made the shower of sparks pale in comparison as it lit up the skies. In the distance, she could see her tree fort, it was on fire. Beca had always liked the view it gave her of the river, but now, being the tallest tree in the woods gave her the perfect view of her beloved haven in flames.

She would stand there, tears streaking down her face, terrified, paralyzed with her fear. Her sister, found her, moments later, frozen, watching her safe place burn down to nothing. Ever since then, thunderstorms would bring back that terrified, seven year old Beca. She didn't even realize that she had recounted her story out loud until Chloe silenced her by placing her finger on her lips.

Chloe didn't want the younger woman to have to relive those memories. Not right now anyways, she was already pretty traumatized about it. They both needed sleep too, despite everything that had happened, life would continue, they had class tomorrow. Chloe trailed her fingers through Beca's chocolate tresses, taming the unruly hair. Her knight wasn't as shielded as she thought. Beca was far stronger than most people she knew, but those walls that she built, that armour she wore, it was all to protect a haunted, fragile girl.

"The storm can't hurt you, it'll have to go through me to get to you. Beca, you are titanium. There isn't any storm that can hurt you, look at you now. You are here. You survived that storm. It couldn't get you back then, it's not going to get you now," Chloe breathed into Beca's hair. "I'm right here, titanium Beca. You're the knight in titanium armour, you're my knight. You whooped those two guy's butts for me, now kick this storm's butt for me too okay?" Beca nodded, she couldn't see the lightning any more, all she saw was the electric blue of Chloe's eyes. The thunder faded into the background, the steady pulse of Chloe's filled her head like a bass line, a lifeline. Chloe was giving her something to hold onto, to cling to in her nightmarish past.

* * *

Beca groaned, there was an incessant knocking at the door and she opened her eyes blearily. She was greeted by a mane of flaming locks and she sleepily untangled her own limbs from Chloe's limbs. Last night had been the first time in many, many years that she could sleep so peacefully through a thunderstorm. Reluctantly, she left the comfort and warmth of Chloe and the bed and made her way across the room. Life at Barden was slowly returning to normal, she could hear birds chirping, some random chatter as students made their way to class, the storm was over.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Coming," Beca growled, she hated when anything or anyone woke her up. Who could it be at this hour. She pulled open the door a little more violently than she usually would've as Chloe stirred on the bed.

"Becaaaaaa," at the familiar drawl, Beca forced back a wince. What time was it? She turned to look at the clock on her desk, 10:17. Dang, her alarm definitely did not go off today. Jesse pushed past Beca and into the room obliviously, a wide smile drawn over his face. "I knew you slept in, thought you stood me up for our breakfast date, but you didn't respond to any of my texts so I figured I drop by." Jesse scooped up Beca's phone from the dresser and handed it to her. 18 unread messages, all from Jesse presumably. "We still have time to get something over at Mike's," Jesse drew the DJ in for a hug and a kiss.

Seeing how Jesse had his back to the bed and had yet to notice the presence of a third person in the room, Chloe tried to stealthily get out of bed and towards Beca's closet so at least she could hide until Jesse left. She had never quite been in a situation like this before, and as hilarious as Beca's expression was, who was trying to tell her to not make noise, it was also incredibly awkward. Unfortunately, as Chloe was trying to maneuver around the bedpost, she lost her footing. Frantically trying to regain balance, her hand shot out to steady her, gripping the dresser, also making a solid thunk.

At this, Jesse let go of Beca and turned around, a slightly shocked expression on his face as he took in the sight of Chloe Beale, dressed in his girlfriend's clothes, climbing out of her bed. Chloe froze like a deer in headlights, for once unsure of how to proceed with this situation. "Uhm, good morning," she decided was her best choice and hastily straightened her clothes and hair.

Jesse turned to his girlfriend, his mouth agape, unsure of how to react. He wasn't really clear on the whole girls' sleepover kind of thing either but he was sure that Beca wasn't the type of girl to do those kinds of things either.

"I'm sorry, just, things happened last night and Chloe needed and that sounds bad. But. I-" Beca was cut off in the middle of her ramblings by a wave from Chloe.

Beca was never the eloquent one, and Chloe opted to just get straight to the point. "I was attacked last night okay? Beca saved me and I forgot my keys, so I stayed over. Nothing happened. She was just there for me," Chloe released a deep breath that she hadn't realized that she had been holding.

"Oh, uhm, okay," Jesse was a little shocked at this, he didn't know exactly what the proper response to any of this was.

"Thank you Beca, for everything last night. I think that I'll be f-" it was Beca's turn to cut off Chloe this time.

"I'm going to head to the police station with Chloe. Sorry about this, we'll do breakfast some other time?" Beca forced her face muscles to pull into the sweetest smile she could muster.

Jesse nodded dumbly, "Yeah of course. By all means. This is way more important, stay safe, both of you. Okay?" Beca couldn't help actually grinning, she knew he couldn't say no. Beca pressed a chaste kiss onto his cheek and let out a sigh of relief when the door closed behind his retreating form.

"Beca, you can go now. I'm fine, I can go to the police station myself. You can go on your date with Jesse," Chloe felt a strange sense of relief and joy that Beca was choosing to go to the police station with her instead of a date with Jesse.

Beca chuckled, "I need coffee, proper coffee. Jesse keeps getting me these sugary cinnamon latte drinks. He thinks I like them or something. And I've tried telling him that I don't, but ugh, its like how Luke still calls me Becky." Beca rolled her eyes, exasperated. Then her expression morphed into one of her infamous smirks, "Now you have to go to the police station because I told Jesse that I couldn't go on a date with him because we're going to the station. Wouldn't want to get caught in a lie now hmm?"

"Well Becky, why don't we get changed and we can go get some proper coffee," Chloe teased as she picked up Beca's brush and started fixing her hair.

"Oh joy, proper coffee!" Beca exclaimed in mock excitement as she made her way to the closet to find something that Chloe could wear.

"Oh and Beca?" Chloe reached out and caught Beca's hand as she walked by.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you, I mean it. You're the best," Chloe planted a quick peck on her cheek before releasing her. Beca's face burned at that gesture but she continued her way to the closet, trying to appear as unaffected as possible. Her skin tingled where Chloe's lips had touched and she fought to hide the rising blush.

"No, thank you," she whispered under her breath as she looked through her clothes. Thank you for being an overwhelming brightness when her past came to haunt her. Thank you for being the lifeline that pulled her out of the storm.


	4. The Knight Is Alive

******AN: **Sorry about the long wait! Exams were killer this week and I haven't had much time to do anything other than eat, shower, study and sleep. I have two more exams next week before life should hopefully return to normal and things should get updated more regularly. Thanksyou all for sticking with me so please read, review, and enjoy! Remember! Every review and like and anything, is very much appreciated. :)

* * *

The next week following their visit to the police station was peaceful for Beca. She had thankfully turned the redhead over to Aubrey's care and resumed her usual routine of studying, working and sleeping. She didn't really see anybody that week actually, no Bellas, no Kimmy Jin, no Jesse and no Chloe. She was so caught up in her little Beca bubble that she just didn't have the time, or energy to do much else. For maybe the first time in years, Beca organized. She had a strict schedule, Johnny, the club owner, made good on his promise to contact her for future gigs. She had played another three shows just that week, sure two were openers for the twins, but Beca was more than happy to play.

The pay was excellent and Beca was doing what she wanted. Johnny even offered to help her get hooked up with one of his friends in LA should she ever decide to fly out there for the summer or something. The plus side was that Beca was starting to gain a little bit of a reputation in the DJ world. She was becoming good friends with several of the club's regular DJ's which to her credit, was impressive. For an 'antisocial alt girl' as Aubrey had so kindly dubbed it, making a couple of new friends, all who were older than her and far more experienced, this was a big deal.

Plus, much to her delight, Johnny said he'd let her off for a couple days so she could prep for her next final. Taking a break from her airtight schedule with school and work was definitely needed. Beca needed some shut eye, more than her usual five hours. Quite happily, she was taking this opportunity to catch up on her sleep. Did she mention that Danny was going to let her play Friday night's prime show? Which meant it would be after midnight and someone else would be opening for her. Friday night was one of the busiest nights of the week, Beca had opened once on Friday and already the place was crawling with people. She could only imagine what the dance floor would look like packed with people.

Which is why during her study breaks Beca had created a playlist of some of her best mixes along with some other things that she wanted to play at the club. Sighing, Beca tossed her textbook onto her bed. She'd been studying for a while now and she figured that would probably be enough. Before she could boot up her laptop, there was a knock at the door and Jesse poked his head in. "Hey, there's a major party down at the old stadium," he was holding a box of beer in his arms, probably for the party.

"And I have a final tomorrow Jesse, not exactly the best mix, and I would know" Beca deadpanned, picking up her headphones and placing them around her neck. She should get a new pair of headphones with the money she had earned. She could get a really nice pair too, and maybe that turntable she wanted.

"Becaaaaaa, you've been cooped up in your room all week. You've been studying all week. Help! My girlfriend's turned into a nerd!" Jesse called out at some random kid passing by in the hallway.

"This is for my future. If I do good, then my dad won't be on my case all the time and then I can continue working gigs in peace. Plus, Johnny's giving me Friday's show to play and I want to play. My dad better not be around," Beca narrowed her eyes at him. Beca would never admit it, but sometimes she liked the challenge that school threw at her. Sometimes.

"You sound old, come on. Please? You don't even have to stay for the whole thing. And I think they're lacking a DJ. Everyone's gonna be there, the Trebles, the Highnotes, BU Harmonix, the Bellas," Jesse put on his best puppy dog eyes and stared at Beca pleadingly.

"The Bellas?" Beca repeated faintly.

Jesse grinned, he knew that he had her hooked now. "Yeah the Bellas, when was the last time you saw your friends Beca? I'm sure they'll all be happy to see that their fearless DJ is still alive."

Beca stared at him for a moment, chewing on her lip. She was finished studying technically, the party would be a good place to get a feel for her mixes if Jesse was telling the truth that they needed a DJ. She could also catch up with the rest of the Bellas and check up on how Chloe was holding up. Beca found herself nodding to Jesse before she even knew what she was doing.

"Great! Come on! Let's get going! Party time!" Jesse whooped, delighted that Beca was coming. Rolling her eyes at his antics, Beca grabbed her phone which she had loaded her club playlist onto earlier just in case Johnny needed her to fill in unexpectedly. Ensuring that her beloved earpiece was secure around her neck, Beca joined Jesse in the hallway and they made their way out to the old stadium.

* * *

By the time the two of them got to the stadium, the place was already pretty packed. Half drunk kids were everywhere, dancing, grinding, singing. It was a typical kind of party. For the most part, Beca wasn't disappointed, the DJ table sat unattended and someone's playlist was randomly blasting out music. That was good, but Beca looked around and she couldn't see that familiar splash of fire, no Chloe. Which was odd because Chloe was usually the one with the perfect attendance to all these parties. There was no tall blonde either, or they had already found themselves guys.

There was an uncomfortable twinge in her stomach as she these thoughts ran through her head. After these past couple of weeks, Beca couldn't help but worry about Chloe and her usually party routine. As much as she tried, the ginger's luck would run out eventually, her knight wouldn't around her all the time, something was bound to go wrong. Jesse allowed Beca to untwine their hands so he could go put the drinks he was carrying on the table. With a sigh, Beca headed down to the DJ equipment, dodging drunken people trying to walk up the stairs.

* * *

"Hey! It's Beca! She's alive!" Fat Amy whooped, halfway in between her fourth and fifth drink. At this, Chloe's head snapped up, eyes searching the crowd for the petite woman. There, her eyes found her, at the top of the stairs, with Jesse. The DJ scanned the crowd for a moment, she didn't see Chloe, or the other Bellas among the throng of dancing people. And Chloe attempted to make her way up the stairs to Beca, but she was unsteady after two shots and two drinks.

Stumbling, she grabbed Cynthia Rose's shoulder to stop herself from falling flat on her face. "Woah girl, drunk already?"

Chloe waved a hand at Cynthia dismissively, "The shots were really strong, I've only had two," Chloe managed to regain her balance and stand on her own two feet. That's when Chloe noticed Beca's hand intertwined with Jesse's, how she managed to miss seeing the Treble the first time around was a mystery. "But on a second thought," suddenly Chloe felt uneasy at the sight of Beca and Jesse, "I think I'll take you up on that round of shots."

"That's right girl! Loosen up and live a little! Anotha round of shots for Red here!" Cynthia Rose whooped and called out to a couple of the guys at behind the drinks table, who were busy mixing drinks.

Chloe drained the rest of the cup that she had been nursing for a while in one go. Live a little, she chuckled to herself, relishing in the feel of the alcohol burning, all the way down her throat. "Extra drinks!" Chloe looked up at the sound of the voice, recognizing it as Jesse. Much to her surprise, he was not attached to Beca at the side and Chloe looked around wildly, trying to locate the DJ. Unfortunately, her vision was slightly blurry around the edges and Beca had long since disappeared since Chloe had last seen her.

Someone also decided to put on some good music for a change and a pulsing bass line tore through the night air. Suddenly, everyone was in the mood to dance, it was contagious and Chloe couldn't help but rock her hips and sway to the beat. Grinning wildly, she accepted a shot glass from Cynthia Rose and knocked it back without a second thought.

* * *

An uncharacteristic grin was etched onto Beca's face as she ran her fingers over the DJ equipment, turning dials and pushing levers, constantly making little changes to her mix on the fly. By the reaction of the the sudden increase of kids dancing on the makeshift dance floor, her mixes were sounding good. Completely lost in her own little world, Beca didn't even realized that Chloe was in front of her, grinding drunkenly with just about every guy she could get her hands on.

It wasn't until Beca looked up from the equipment to gauge the reaction of the crowd, did she realize that the random chick grinding some guy in front of her was Chloe. Beca blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to make sure that what she was seeing was actually real. A little bit taken back, Beca turned back to her mixes. She wasn't Chloe's keeper. The ginger was an adult, she could handle herself, most of the time. Before Beca even resigistered what she was doing, a more laid back song was floating through the speakers, seamlessly fading into the hard bass from the previous track.

Like Beca expected, the crowd on the dance floor thinned considerably, it was difficult to really get it on and grind with a more laidback song. It wasn't quite slow enough for people to slow dance to, but it wasn't fast enough to grind to either. She was really getting the hang of toying with the crowd and moving them now. Sometimes, drunk people were easier to deal with than sober ones. The guy who had been grinding with Chloe left the dance floor with a group of his buds, and headed in the direction of the drinks table.

Seizing her chance, Beca hit play on a second track and slowly let it slip into the track unnoticed all the while slowly toning down the other track. Beca knew what would get Chloe's attention, even in her drunken stupor. Smoothly, the chorus of Titanium flowed out of the speakers. Sia's voice floating easily over the din of the crowd. Beca saw Chloe's head snap up at the sound of the familiar melody. "That's my lady jam!" she shrieked, jumping up and down shamelessly. Beca grinned, it had worked the first time when the song had been enough to pull Chloe away from Tom and into her shower, why shouldn't it now?

Beca let a smirk play over her lips as Chloe's eyes finally located the DJ, where the DJ always belonged, behind a turntable. Chloe took three drunken steps towards the table before stumbling and Beca hurriedly queued up a bunch of other random tracks. Worried, she pulled off her headphones and rushed around the speakers. The intoxicated ginger lay on the ground, trying to pick herself up and Beca hastily helped her up.

"Becaaaaaaa," Chloe slurred in an endearing way that reminded her of Jesse's drawl, but she didn't seem to mind it as much.

"Oh my god Chloe, you're bleeding!" Beca cried out when she spotted the palm of Chloe's hand were coated in blood.

Chloe squinted down at her own hands, is that what that stupid throbbing was? That was crazy. "No I'm not! Those stupid cups melted all over my hands!" Chloe protested shoving her hands closer to Beca's face. "Seeeee?"

At this Beca had to give a chuckle, she had never seen the redhead this drunk before, and it was amusing, as well as cute. "Come on, let's get you back to your dorm, I'm about done anyways," Beca let Chloe drape an arm around her shoulders to steady herself and she selected one of the other playlists on the laptop to play for the remainder of the party.

"Becaaaaa, you should drink with me!" Chloe whispered in Beca's ear, her body completely draped over Beca's, pressing against her back.

"Maybe, let's head back to your dorm first okay?" Beca hooked her headphones around her neck and started leading Chloe out of the old stadium back towards the dorms.

"Will there be drinks?" Beca groaned, Chloe had such a one track mind when she was drunk. It was better than some drunks that she had encountered, that was for sure.

* * *

Beca managed to get Chloe back to her dorm room without much trouble. Chloe did end up sing Titanium at the top of her lungs when they were walking through the hallways and Beca was forced to slap a hand over the redhead's mouth. That had muffled Chloe's singing enough for them to make it back to the dorms without any trouble. Once they had arrived at the door of Chloe and Aubrey's shared dorm room, Beca realized that she didn't have the key to the place and sighed. She really didn't want to lug Chloe all the way back to her dorm room across the campus.

"Chloe, where are your keys?" Beca asked, half wondering if she would even respond to her properly in her drunken state.

Much to her surprise, and relief Chloe replied, still giggling, "I think! They're in my pocket." Beca stared at her for a second, almost expecting Chloe to retrieve said keys and place them in Beca's hand. When Beca realized that this was obviously going to be asking too much of the inebriated ginger, she sighed. She would have to get them herself. Awkwardly, since she was supporting Chloe on her left, she used her right hand to dig through Chloe's right pocket, having to turn sideways.

Thankfully the hallway was empty at this time, Beca didn't want to have to explain the awkward position she was in right now. "Aww seriously Chlo?" The right pocket was empty, meaning Chloe had put her keys in her left one and that Beca would have to reach all the way across Chloe's front to get it. Carefully, Beca reached across and into the pocket, all the while trying to support Chloe's weight. Luckily, the keys were on a lanyard and Beca fished it out triumphantly. "Oh thank goodness," Beca breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly jammed the key into the lock.

Tiredly, Beca half lead, half carried Chloe across the room. The seniors always got the nicer rooms, Beca surmised. The dorm room wasn't even really a room, there was a small sitting area two doors that Beca assumed lead to Aubrey and Chloe's bedrooms. Both doors were shut right now and Beca took a haphazard guess at which one was which.

She pulled open the first one and flicked on the light. A warm light washed over the entire room, a bed in the middle of the room and a desk pushed up against the far side. All along the walls were picture frames, each one with smiling faces. A small pile of stuffed animals sat on one side of the bed, most of them looked well used and well cared for. This one was probably Chloe's room Beca surmised. Groaning, she laid the redhead down on the bed, getting Chloe here was a lot harder than she expected.

"Becaaaa?" Beca sighed and stared down at the ginger, lips pursed expectantly. What she did not expect was for Chloe to shoot up into sitting position suddenly and grab her wrist. Drunkenly, Chloe pulled Beca closer to her. Half surprised, half used to Chloe's weird antics, Beca sighed and gave Chloe a pointed look.

"Just go to sleep, I'm going to bandage your hands and then I'll leave," sometimes Chloe was such a kid sometimes. In fact, drunk Chloe was very much like a kid when she wasn't grinding or making out with some guy.

"Gooooodniggght Becaaaa," Chloe slurred and stretched up and planted a kiss on Beca's face. Unfortunately, being drunk, she saw three of Beca, when she leaned up to kiss one of the Beca's on the cheek, she ended up kissing her right on the lips. Still giggling, she fell backwards onto the bed.

Beca, too stunned at what had just occurred, just stood there, jaw slightly open, staring at the redhead. Slowly, she trailed her fingers over her lips, the ghost of the feeling of Chloe's lips on her own still there. It was unlike anything that she had ever felt before, she never felt like this when she kissed Jesse. The sparks, the electricity coursing through her body. It was like someone had finally flicked the power switch to on in Beca, she felt strangely alive. This feeling that got her heart racing and blood thundering, it was unlike anything that she had felt before and Beca wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Chloe," the name floated past Beca's lips before she could even stop it. But the redhead didn't respond, the only response Beca got was a quiet snore. Chloe had passed out. Rubbing her temples, Beca headed back out into the sitting area. There was a small first aid kit that she had spotted underneath the glass coffee table when they were coming in. She retrieved it now and brought it back to the bedroom. Chloe was still sound asleep, scarlet hair spilling out over the sheets in waves, making it look like the sheets had caught fire.

Careful not to wake her, Beca sat down on the bed and gently started cleaning out Chloe's scraped hands with some alcohol wipes. As Beca worked, she couldn't help but admire how at peace Chloe looked. Even in her sleep, Chloe's face was still so lively and animated. Quietly, Beca finished wrapping up the senior's hands and got up. On a whim, she pulled the covers from underneath Chloe and covered her with them. As a second thought, Beca removed Chloe's shoes and left them at the foot of the bed. She stared at the bed for a moment longer, reluctant to leave. She had an exam tomorrow, Beca reasoned, she needed to go back to her room and sleep. The least she could do would be to pop by tomorrow morning with coffee and some painkillers. Just to make sure Chloe was okay and so she wouldn't freak out trying to figure out how she got back to her own room.

Mind made up, Beca left, easing the door shut with a soft click.

* * *

The next morning, Chloe woke up with a groan and opened her eyes blearily. The sun was shining through the window and blinding her. It took her a moment for her to realize that she was tangled in the sheets and that she was in a bed. All she could remember was that she was at that party last night. She had said that she didn't want to get drunk, but when she saw Beca and Jesse arrive hand in hand, that definitely went out the window. Chloe didn't even know why every time she saw the DJ and the Treble together, something in her just twisted painfully.

"You don't even like her," Chloe had told herself, "Just watching out for her. Like she does for you. That's what friends are for." Friends, she scoffs. Right. But the more she thought about it, the less she understood, so Chloe settled for just not thinking about it.

Struggling, she wiggled out of her sheets, trying to remember what went down after her seventh shot last night. Nothing, there was nothing, her mind was completely blank and Chloe groaned. She hated not remembering, that blank slate and then going around asking people what had she done and piecing together the drunken pieces. That and she had a killer headache, it felt like there was a jackhammer inside her head trying to get out. Well, she was in her own room, that was a relief at least. Brow furrowed, she sat on the edge of her bed and found, much to her surprise, her shoes, placed neatly next to each other.

One was for sure, she did not make it back to her own room by herself. There was no way that she could've done that, not drunk out of her mind anyways. As she reached out to pick up the shoes, she noticed the bandages around her hand. Those were definitely not there last night, that much she knew. A little confused, Chloe began to unwrap her hands. Before she could finish however, she was interrupted by the sound of a key in the lock.

"Bree?" Chloe called out, her voice hoarse. Aubrey was the only other person with a key to the dorm. She left the bandages trailing from her hand and made her way, head pounding and unsteadily to the door.

"Nice try," A familiar sarcastic voice greeted her as the person let themselves in and let the door slam shut behind them.

"Beca? How did you get keys? Where's Aubrey?" Chloe was beyond confused now and she gripped the back of the couch to steady herself. Not realizing that the bandages had completely fallen away in her short walk across the sitting area, Chloe was greeted with a new wave of pain as the scratchy fabric of the couch broke the freshly scabbed over scrapes when she gripped the couch a little too hard. "Ow, crap," Chloe winced and lifted it up to examine it. Fresh blood was already flowing out of the reopened scrapes.

"Chloe!" Beca cried out, half exasperated and half concerned. She put what she was holding onto the coffee table and sat the redhead down on the couch. Only Chloe could make herself bleed with a couch. "Here, I'll redress it, I brought you some painkillers and coffee. Thought you might need it," Beca pulled the first aid kit out from under the table again. Chloe could only watch, amused as Beca retrieved the kit with an air of familiarity.

"Thank-you, but Beca, its only a scrape. Nothing to worry about," Chloe told the brunette gently. "It's no big deal." There was a tray with three coffee cups on it and a plastic bag. As promised, there was a bottle of painkillers and two bottles of water in it. Eagerly, Chloe retrieved a water and the bottle of pills with one bandaged hand while Beca fussed over the other.

"You were the one who told me that one of those 'stupid cups' melted all over your hands last night. I think I have every right to worry. You're such a childish drunk," Beca replied, even using her fingers to make the quotation marks when she said stupid cups. Then she resumed gently cleaning the scrape again.

"I said what?" Chloe choked, halfway between knocking back her first and second painkiller.

Immediately, Beca was rubbing her back. "I told you, every right to worry," Beca teased. Had nobody informed Chloe how oddly childlike she was when she was drunk?

Chloe managed to restore her regular breathing and stared at Beca incredulously. "I said what?" She repeated firmly. That was also the first time that she had heard someone use childish and drunk next to each other. Coming from Bcea though, she was not as surprised.

"You thought that one of those red drink cups had melted on your hands after you fell. Because that's a more sensible situation," Beca teased as she finished wrapping up Chloe's hands.

"I was drunk!" Chloe protested, she spotted one of the coffee cups marked with a C and assumed that one was for her. "Was that all I did?" Chloe took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "Mhmm, this is so good. How did you know I would like this?" Chloe demanded, eyes glinting. She didn't recall ever telling Beca this, or physically getting coffee with the DJ.

"I'm psychic," was the nonchalant reply. It wasn't hard to figure out, Beca had really just ordered a regular latte then asked for extra whipped cream and extra, extra caramel. It was no secret that Chloe loved sweet things. "Do you not remember a single thing?" Beca asked suspiciously. Considering how drunk Chloe was last night, it was really not a surprise. But maybe...

Chloe shoved Beca playfully, "That's an unacceptable answer!" She'd find out, one way or another later. "Ugh, no. Nothing. Allllll blank," Chloe groaned and covered her eyes. "Tell me, how bad was I?"

Nope, no maybe. A definite no then. "Well, you tried to serenade four different strangers in the hallway, but other than that. Not that terrible," Beca smirked. If Chloe didn't remember then she probably shouldn't even mention it then.

"Oh, that's it. Oh good," Chloe breathed a sigh of relief and took another gulp of her coffee.

"Yeah, well. I have an exam in a bit. So I'm gonna head out now, catch you later Chlo," With that, Beca put the painkillers back into the bag, picked up the tray and was gone. Chloe watched Beca leaved with a curious expression on her face. Beca was hiding something from her, Chloe didn't know exactly what, but she intended to find out.

* * *

Beca made her way to Jesse's dorm room and knocked. When she went out to get painkillers and coffee this morning, Jesse was not exactly the first on her mind. Which was a little weird because he was her boyfriend. Who was also stupid and gotten himself hammered last night. But then she kinda felt bad for ditching him at the party, even though she told him that she would and here she was. It was Benji though who opened the door and let her through on his way out. Jesse of course, had just woken up.

"Hey, I figured you might need these," Beca offered. Handing him the plastic bag and his coffee, she took a sip of her own. At least this way, she wouldn't have to deal with the weird drinks Jesse usually got her.

"Ugh, thanks babe, you didn't have to. Don't you have an exam or something?" Jesse pulled out the bottle of painkillers and knocked one back, washing it down with a large swig of water.

"Yeah, but I figured you'd need this if you were as hungover as Chloe," Beca quipped, checking her phone to make sure she still had time.

"Chloe?" Jesse echoed, "you saw Chloe first?" He wasn't sure if he should be a little insulted or not that his girlfriend decided to check up on him second.

"Yeah," Beca realized her slip up and hastily thought of an excuse. "Well she has a morning class and you don't. So I figured I'd let you sleep a little longer before waking you up." Jesse seemed to buy it and he let it go. "But I have to go, you know. Exam and all," Beca inched towards the door but was intercepted by Jesse's arm and she was pulled into a hug.

"See you tonight then?" Jesse asked as he pressed a kiss onto her lips.

The kiss didn't feel like anything she experienced last night. And last night Chloe was drunk. There was no electricity, no sparks. The switch sat at off again, unmoving. Beca pulled away quickly, "Sorry! I'm playing tonight's show at the club and I gotta prep. And now I'm going to be late, bye!" Beca pulled a hasty retreat and almost sprinted out of the room, she needed to sort everything out.


	5. The Knight Raises Her Army

**AN: ****Hey awesome nerds! Thanksyou guys so much for the overwhelming support. I love you guys. Like you make my day. My last exam is tomorrow so this is a bit of a celebration for me. Even though i should totes be studying. But I ended up writing this instead of studying. Totally worth it. Enjoy the chapter! Remember, every review, like, anything, is very much appreciated :D (The mashup is not an actual mix, yet. If any would like to make it and link it to me. That'd be really cool of you. I was messing around and thought it'd sound good.)**

* * *

"And DJ Beca Mitchell, is out!" Beca whooped triumphantly as she handed in her exam. The rest of her class and her professor stared at her strangely and Beca only offered them her trademark half-smirk as the only explanation. She had a show to play now, the moment she had been waiting for all week. Grinning, Beca left the classroom and headed back to her dorm. Luckily for her, all her studying and prepping had paid off and she found the exam remarkably easy despite her distracted state. With headphones already blasting her setlist for tonight, Beca set herself upon the task of finding something appropriate to wear.

In all honesty, after rushing away from Jesse using her exam as an excuse, Beca had spent a couple hours on the roof of the science building. She had a perfect, unobstructed view of the clouds, lazily drifting by and she lay there on her back, thinking. The sun beamed down tenderly on her and Beca took it as an opportunity to catch a little bit of sunlight. Get some vitamin D or something. Jesse had always teased her about being a little pale, and maybe she was. Sometimes Beca liked to imagine that she glowed a little bit under the various UV and black lights at the club.

With no exam to distract her now, her thoughts drifted back to what she was thinking of back on the empty roof. What was she thinking of? The only thing that seemed to ever be on her mind since yesterday- the kiss. Beca was unsure of where she stood with Chloe. The two of them had become fast friends- much like a tipsy redhead had predicted at initiation night. Fast friends had soon evolved into good friends, then to close friends, then to best friends. It was easy for her to be herself around Chloe, a regular old goofball and Chloe didn't seem to mind it one bit.

It was the same with Jesse actually, she didn't need to keep her badass facade on. Well not all the time anyways, sometimes she just liked teasing Jesse with it. Sure, he liked movies and she often had to watch them with him, but he was a good guy. Friendly, easy on the eyes, caring, what wasn't to like? So why was she doubting herself? Her brain knew the answer, but that electricity that she felt, was just so addicting.

Her headphones were halfway into the seventh song on the setlist when Beca finally emerged from her closet fully dressed. She had thought of dressing up a little bit but then decided against it. When Beca spun, she was in her element, so she might as well looked like it. It took Beca a moment to locate her trusty leather jacket and she draped it over her arm. Once she was sure she had her Mac and the rest of her equipment, Beca left the room without a second thought. There was still quite a bit of time before she even had to leave campus, her set being at midnight and it was only four. Eight hours to kill. Eight hours to scrutinize all of her mixes and maybe make a new one on the spot.

The quad was packed when Beca got outside, the sun was shining brightly and it seemed like everyone was trying to soak up some rays. Cautiously, she picked her way through the throng of people, careful with where she was treading so that so didn't step on anybody's fingers or toes. That random club where people ran in circles also seemed to like laying on the grass in a giant circles as well. A pain as Beca had to take the long way around to avoid them.

At long last, Beca made it to her beloved spot beneath the tree. Which, despite the crowdedness of the rest of the quad, was surprisingly empty. Nobody wanted to sit in the shade Beca surmised, people were weird. They were all going to get a sun burn and probably heat stroke. The shade the tree provided was pleasant and cool, coupled with the gentle breeze, Beca was enjoying the outdoors, which she usually did not do.

Grinning, she tossed her jacket onto the grass used it as a seat. Sometimes the grass made her itchy and she'd rather not deal with the discomfort of trying to scratch while spinning tonight. Now satisfied, Beca settled down on the soft grass and pulled out her Macbook, which lit up with a muted beep. People all around her, milling about, doing their thing. Sometimes, Beca was content to just sit here and people watch. Automatically, she plugged in her headphones from her phone into her computer and let the music block out the rest of the world. Hours passed and Beca didn't realize much time had flown by until a little alert popped up on her screen. "You are currently running on reserve battery power. You need to plug the power adapter into your computer and a power outlet. If you don't, your computer will go into sleep in a few moments to preserve its memory contents."

"Crap," Beca hurriedly clicked save on her mixes before looking around for a nearby power outlet. Then she realized that she was still outside and there were not outlets built into trees for her convenience. Most kids had already vacated the quad area already. It was around dinner time so people were at the cafeteria or at various restaurants that dotted the campus. The sun was setting, casting long shadows on the ground and Beca realized how cold it was without the warmth of the sun. Hastily, she loaded her work onto her phone, she'd have to just plug in at the club tonight.

Yawning and stretching, she picked herself up off of the ground and shoved everything into her black messenger bag. Her stomach grumbled noisily, reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything except for that half of a sandwich she stole off of Fat Amy on her way down to the exam. The blonde had protested when she did but also decided that the vertical running involved in going after Beca to get the sandwich back was not worth it.

She still have five hours before she was due to be at the club. That meant she had time to go out get something to eat, maybe find some place quiet with a power outlet, and good coffee, and work some more on her mixes.

* * *

Chloe looked up from her work, she just finished her final paper and was submitting it when her phone vibrated noisily against the table. Swiftly she scooped up her phone, letting it vibrate in the palm of her hand. Instead of the bulky bandages Beca had used the night before, Beca had switched to large square shaped band aids so that Chloe would actually be able to use her hands. It was very thoughtful of the DJ and Chloe had managed to locate a second one in the first aid kit before she left for her classes.

Thankfully, the colour of the band aids matched the colour of Chloe's palms and she managed to avoid people noticing them. It wasn't that she didn't have a proper explanation of what had happened, she fell, simple as that, but still, it was kind of embarrassing. She was way past the age where scars and scrapes were kind of cool, kind of like a battle scar kind of thing, and honestly, she didn't want to attract any more attention that she already had.

Seeing that the text was from Aubrey, Chloe opened it. "Hey! Missed you this morning! Last night was aca-awesome! I heard from Benji that a whole bunch of aca-people are going to this club tonight, you in?"

Chloe chewed her lip in thought. While she wasn't too fond of the club scene anymore, this was a good chance to catch up with a bunch of people that she hadn't seen in a while, well she saw a few of them yesterday, but she was drunk, so that didn't really count. Plus, how fun would it be to have like thirty something a cappella kids belting out club hits on the dance floor? That was sure to be amusing. "Sounds good! :) Where is it?"

Aubrey's text came in, moments later. "It's a bit of a drive. Oh and we can't all get smashed tonight. We're pretty much all driving ourselves to and from the club. And you know how much the taxi service sucks in the east side." Aubrey knew Chloe couldn't resist hanging out with anybody that had anything to do with music really. Music was Chloe's passion after all.

At this Chloe had to smile, everyone would be relatively sober then, relatively. While she could use one or two drinks, she had a feeling that somebody would be puking on the sidewalk tonight. "Sooooo, is your car out of the shop? :D"

You could almost hear the sigh in Aubrey's texted response, "Yes, I'll give you a lift. You're such a mooch sometimes, Chloe."

Chloe's face split into a wider grin, "You know you laaahhhveee meee 3" While Chloe had no problems with driving, she did have her car parked in one of the best parking spots on campus. Being one of the best parking spots, that also meant that it was highly sought after and Chloe was going to be damned if she lost that spot. Although the fact that she didn't drive around anymore kind of defeated the purpose of have the parking spot. Well, at least she got bragging rights, right?

"No, I know you're lucky that I'm your best friend and that sometimes, you're a terrible person," Aubrey, blunt as always.

Chloe grinned, Aubrey was the best, best friend anyone could ever have. "You tell Beca yet?" While Aubrey and the DJ were on good terms now, meaning they didn't try to tear each other's head off whenever they were in the same room together, Aubrey sometimes still excluded Beca, largely out of habit.

"No, leaving that to you." Succinct as ever Aubrey was.

Chloe checked the time on her phone, Beca should've finished her exam a couple hours ago. She had come to the decision to not text Beca while Beca had an exam to write. The shorter woman probably didn't need the extra distractions anyways. Of course, Chloe was still determined to figure out what Beca was hiding from her but she opted to figure that out later. Pausing over the 'send new message' option, Chloe decided that she could call Beca. That was always more fun than texting.

* * *

Beca was sitting at Joe's, this quaint little diner near the club when her phone rang. Beca idly twirled the fry that she had just dipped in ketchup around her fingers as she answered her phone with her other hand. "Hello?"

"Hello? Beca!" Chloe's bubbly voice came through loud and clear, the redhead was relieved that Beca picked up.

"Chloe! Hey, what's up?" Beca popped the fry in her mouth and wiped her greasy fingers on her napkin.

"Nothing much, how was your exam?" Chloe enjoyed making small talk with Beca, it was an easy rhythm to fall into.

"Meh, it was pretty good, I think," Beca replied nonchalantly. She didn't want to sound over confident or cocky despite how much she actually studied and how over prepared she was for this exam.

"That's good. All your hard work paid off then. So how bout you come clubbing with us tonight? As a celebration of sorts?" Chloe let a twinge of excitement creep into her voice. The last time they had gone to a club together was also in celebration; celebrating their victory at the ICCA's. That had definitely been a memorable night, Fat Amy had somehow convinced Beca to do shots with her and Beca was weird drunk as well as a light weight. Sometimes, she was quiet, sometimes she was crazy, singing things at the top of her lungs. A bipolar drunk as Aubrey had so affectionately dubbed it.

Beca winced, as tempting as spending time with the redhead sounded, Beca had been waiting for this Friday all week. "Sorry Chlo, but I'm busy tonight. Maybe some other time?" her tone was apologetic and genuine, she really meant it. She would've loved to hang out with the redhead.

"Oh, well that's fine," Chloe tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, gripping her phone a little bit tighter. "Some other time sounds good." Chloe sighed as she let her dorm room door slam shut behind her.

"I'm really sorry Chlo, this is just a bad time, I really do have something going on tonight. I promise I'll make it up to you alright?" Beca hated disappointing the older woman, there was just something about a down Chloe that really made Beca feel terrible.

"Alright. I'll hold you to that Mitchell. Well I gotta go change! Text me if you change your mind!" Chloe chirped, tossing her things onto the couch.

"Okay, make good choices!" Beca chuckled, especially since she was not going to be there watching out for her this time. As they hung up, Beca couldn't help but stare at the screen of her phone, Chloe was an adult. She could handle herself.

For the seventh time that half hour, Beca checked the time on her phone. Barely any time had passed since she had last checked it. With a sigh, Beca finished off the last of her fries and asked the waiter for the bill.

* * *

Beca managed to kill another hour by cruising around aimlessly in her car before she finally gave up and pulled into the parking lot of the club. She was three hours early, but she might as well spend it at the club rather than wander around randomly again. With a defeated sigh, she locked her car and pulled open the white glass doors to the club. Dave, one of the bouncers, was leaning against the wall next to the door and gave her a nod as she walked by. The guy had a cigarette between his teeth and was on his phone, probably playing poker or something.

There was nothing playing over the speakers as the club wasn't even officially open yet. The silence was eery and Beca's boots made an audible thud with every step that she took. The emptiness of the dance floor and the sounds of clinking glasses that you wouldn't usually hear was rather unnerving for Beca who had never been around during the prep time.

"Hey kid, you're here early. I didn't think you were on till prime time," Mike, her favourite bartender greeted her as he wiped down another glass. Mike was also in charge of the whole bar area, probably why he was her favourite; he always snuck her drinks every now and then, on the house.

I had nothing else to do, figured I get here early and do some prep. Might earn me some brownie points," Beca quipped and slid onto a stool, watching Mike do his work.

"Well, the boss is in the back. Why don't you do yourself a favour," Mike poured out a drink into a glass for her, "and see if he's thirsty or wants some help." Beca grinned as Mike slid the glass across the counter towards her with a wink.

"You're the best, Mike," Beca picked up the glass and made her way across the empty dance floor. It took her a minute to find her employee's card and slide it through the scanner. The door that led to the back of the club unlocked with a series of clunks. She shouldered it open easily and walked through the carpeted hallway.

Johnny was just getting off of the phone when Beca knocked on the door, poking her head into his office. "Beca! You're uh, super early," Johnny looked mildly surprised to see her at this hour.

Beca took that as her signal to enter the room and handed Johnny his drink, "I had nothing better to do, so I figured, might as well be early and see if there's something I can do. Like prep or something."

"Well, I'm trying to find someone to open for you tonight. Turns out, almost all the DJs in town are gonna be here tonight to see you. Nobody wants to open," Johnny sighed and ran a hand through his dirty blonde locks.

"Wait a minute, back up. What do you mean all the DJs in town are gonna be here," Beca narrowed her eyes at him. While she had gotten really close with a lot of the DJs who spun regularly at the club, she was still completely out of the loop when it came to news in the DJ community.

"A bunch of your friends caught wind of your set tonight and they've rounded up quite the group to come see you," at this, Beca was flattered. She was the rookie around here, for a lot of the veteran DJs to come see her tonight, well that was quite a shocker for her. "Tell you what, I'll let you play during the opening slot tonight too. It'll be all you, all night until my closing DJ comes in. That way you can warm up too and get a feel for things. And you get overtime pay. You up to it kid?"

"Oh my gosh, yes. I'll go get set up in the booth right now," without another word, Beca rushed back down the hall and across the dance floor to the other door. Beca could feel Mike's amused gaze upon her as she slid her keycard through the scanner to the DJ's booth but she didn't care. She had two sets to play.

* * *

By the time eleven thirty swung around, the club was rapidly filling up and a long line had already formed outside the doors. Beca had a one of her more laid back tracks playing over the speakers, she figured that she'd ease into it. Let more people filter onto the dance floor before hitting it with something faster. She had checked, double checked and triple checked all the equipment and made sure that she had more than enough possible tracks to play for the duration of her two sets.

A couple of the other DJ's had already showed up and were hanging around one of the booths, drink in hand. One of them had already sent Mike up with a coke for her. Word had spread that she was one of those DJs who didn't like to drink on the job either it seemed as Beca sipped her soft drink. She had been spinning since ten and things were really starting to pick up now. Smoothly, she transitioned into one of her mash up tracks, this ought to get the crowd going.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen! We are in the club!" Unicycle whooped as the bouncer at the front of the club let them through. Chloe and Aubrey got to the club a little bit before 10:45. A long line had already snaked its way past the club and spilled into the parking lot. Luckily, they found several of the other Bellas and a couple of the Trebles already had a spot in line and they happily joined in. Fever, was a large, modern looking building painted white. The sign that declared the club's name was in glowing red lettering, the only other colour on the building.

From their spot in line, Chloe could hear the layers of baselines and sweet voices all melded together perfectly. If what she was hearing outside of the club was anything to go by, Chloe was definitely a fan of the DJ. She was enjoying herself so much that all her disappointment that Beca couldn't make it, disappeared. They had waited nearly an hour before they finally got into the club, Aubrey complained the entire time but at Stacie and Unicycle's assurance that this was the club to be at, she waited with them.

As expected, the club was packed and they were lucky to find an empty booth to all crowd into. "I'll go get us a round of drinks," Cynthia Rose volunteered, having spotted the bar upon entering. "I'll go with you," Stacie leapt up from her spot grinning widely and the two of them vanished into the crowd. Benji and Jesse both settled down into the booth for the moment while Unicycle, Denise, Ashley, Jessica and a bunch of the other Trebles made their way to the dance floor. Lilly and Donald were cuddling in the far side of the booth, away from Benji and Jesse.

Chloe had never been to Fever before and the place was amazing. Like the outside, the inside had that same modern almost futuristic feel to it. The DJ booth extended over the dance floor. The window was completely tinted over and you could barely make out the shape of a person in it. "The DJ is aca-awesome!" Chloe leaned over to Aubrey and yelled over the blasting music.

"I heard this is just the opener! There's some hot new DJ starting at midnight!" Aubrey replied, straining to make herself heard.

The current track that was playing over the speakers faded seamlessly into the next track and Chloe's eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh. Is this?" She paused, listening to the track more closely. "Ahhhhh! It is!" The smooth vocals of Ne-Yo mixed perfectly with the raw voice of Demi Lovato. This was totally going to be her new lady jam. Demi and Ne-Yo, on the same track together. Chloe was in love with this DJ. Excitedly, she dragged Aubrey out to the edge of the dance floor, they'd at least dance this song before getting their drinks.

_"Girl let me love you  
Don't wanna break your heart  
Wanna give your heart a break  
I know you're scared it's wrong  
Like you might make a mistake  
And I will love you  
Until you learn to love yourself  
Girl let me love you  
__There's just one life to live  
And there's no time to wait, to waste  
So let me give your heart a break, give your heart a break  
Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break  
Oh yeah, yeah_  
And all your trouble  
Don't be afraid, girl let me help  
Girl let me love you  
There's just so much you can take  
Give your heart a break  
Let me give your heart a break, your heart a break  
Oh yeah, yeah  
And I will love you  
Until you learn to love yourself  
Girl let me love you  
A heart of numbness, gets brought to life  
I'll take you there"

By now, Cynthia Rose and Stacie had returned with a tray full of drinks and they set it down onto the table. Chloe's throat had gone dry with her screaming out the lyrics to the mash up and she eagerly scooped up a drink. The alcohol burned a little as it went down her throat but she ignored it. She'd probably stop drinking alcohol after this one anyways, there was no way that she was going to miss anymore of the DJ's incredible mashups because she was drunk.

"LAADIEEESS AND GENTLEEEMENNN! The DJ that you have all been waiting for! Who has also been secretly opening for herself. May I introduce, DJ BELLLAAAAA!" with that announcement, the group in the booth next to them went crazy, cheering, yelling. "Yeah Beca!" one of the guys in the group yelled.

"Beca?" Chloe asked herself as she looked up at the DJ booth. Jesse had sat up immediately, also having caught sound of Beca's name and was looking as well. The tint on the DJ booth's window faded and a familiar smirk was illuminated in blue. "Whatsup guys? You guys enjoying yourself?" Chloe's jaw dropped, so this is what Beca was doing tonight. Recalling the announcement, Chloe's jaw dropped, that was Beca's mash up earlier.

The brunette looked totally awesome in her leather jacket, low cut grey shirt and skinny tie. At her words, the crowd below erupted into a mass of screams and cheers. Beca grinned, and she scanned the crowd. The booth that held only a couple people earlier was packed with DJ's now. Some that Beca knew and some that she didn't. All of them were clapping and cheering for her though.

But beside them, was that Chloe? Beca squinted down at them and stealthily maneuvered one of her spotlights so she could get a better look. It was Chloe! The flash of red was unmistakable and she looked good in that teal dress, it really brought out her eyes. The rest of the Bellas were there, and the Trebles, she noted as she spotted Jesse, Donald and Benji. Grinning, Beca threw her plans out the window, instead of playing the next track that was queued up, she searched through her setlist and picked something else.

The opening chords of Titanium played over the speakers and Chloe stared up at the DJ booth where Beca was giving her a mischievous grin. Two lady jams in a row, Chloe's feet were definitely gonna kill her tonight.

* * *

Nearly an hour and a half later, Beca's set list was coming to a close. She had been watching over her friends from her perch up in the sky much like a hawk. Keeping an eye on them to make sure they weren't getting into any trouble. Her phone had gone berserk with texts after Johnny's big reveal at midnight. A lot of them were from her friends expressing their surprise and how great her mixes were sounding, there were a few sporadic ones from the other DJ's as well. Beca smiled and crossed Donald and Lilly's name off of the piece of paper on the desk as they left the club, hand in hand.

The sheet of scrap paper she had found was covered in names, a few crossed out and a bunch of tallies under each name. Dutifully, Beca had been watching over Chloe, keeping track of drinks and things but ended up doing it for the rest of her friends as well. Fat Amy had a grand total of fourteen tallies under her name. That had to be a record or something, Stacie had nine but Cynthia Rose, sitting at a solid two, was doing a good job of keeping an eye on her.

The other Trebles had somewhere between six and eleven, with Benji and Jesse sitting at three each. They were designated drivers or something Beca guessed. Aubrey had vanished into the bathroom, she only had three as well. The other Bellas had already left, their names crossed out. Beca scanned the dance floor for Chloe and spotted the redhead, grinding drunkenly with some guy. He was definitely getting too handsy. She could barely make out Chloe's form as they were facing the other way. Beca frowned, Chloe shouldn't be that drunk, she only had two drinks. Did she get more while Beca wasn't paying attention?

Queueing up another mix, Beca sent Mike a text, "Update on Red please."

It took Mike a couple of moments to respond, Beca watched from the window as he finished serving another drink before pulling out his phone. "Two and a diet coke."

"She shouldn't be that drunk then?" Beca watched Chloe on the dance floor, something wasn't adding up. Chloe wasn't a lightweight, she should be able to handle two, no matter how strong.

Mike took one look at Chloe from across the dance floor and knew what was up. "Been hanging with Rufus. Going to get Dave and Johnny."

"Rufus? Like Roofie Rufus?" This could be bad.

"The one and only," with that Mike disappeared from behind the bar.

Roofie Rufus as the staff of Fever had so affectionately nicknamed him was a guy who came to the club almost every other night with a bunch of his friends and every other night he'd bring home a severely inebriated girl. The guy was nice enough, on the surface. He was good looking, muscular, friendly and charming, everybody fell for his ploy. The staff suspected that he was spiking drinks for a while now but there was no real proof. None of the girls ever came forwards, there was nothing they could do about it.

Growling to herself, Beca fired off another text to someone else, "I need your help."

* * *

When Beca came storming down the stairs from the DJ booth, she found Aubrey sitting at the booth, Benji and Jesse were both missing, maybe to get more drinks or something. "I think Chlo's getting roofied," Beca blurted out before she could stop herself, sliding into the seat across from Aubrey.

"What?!" Aubrey screeched, suddenly more alert. She cast a furious look at the dance floor, trying to find Chloe, or the rest of the Trebles so she could sick them on whoever was trying to roofie her best friend. Nobody messed with Aubrey Posen, or her friends.

Before Beca could even say anything else, she was off, having spotted Unicycle in the crowd. "Shit, shit, shit," Beca ran a hand tiredly through her hair.

"What's up kiddo?" A hand rested on her shoulder and Beca looked up into a set of monochromatic eyes.

"Tat! Oh thank goodness. You got my text?" Tat was a woman in her late twenties with close cropped raven hair. The tank top that she was wearing showed off her heavily tattooed arms.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" the heavily tattooed guy that Beca had saw on her first ever shift at Fever appeared beside Tat. He had spiked brown hair and the same monochromatic eyes. He looked pretty much identical to Tat, even the ink. His nickname was Too. They were the twin DJs at the club, Tat and Too, tattoo, after their sleeves of ink of course.

"I think my friend's getting roofied, and now my other friend has gone off. And crap's gonna go down," Beca stood up, still keeping a weary eye on Rufus who had made his way to the bar with Chloe.

"Roofie Rufus huh? You want some muscle?" Too flexed a bulging bicep and the rest of the crowd of DJs wandered over. They seemed to get something was up with the rookie.

"No... Maybe, on second thought," Beca stood up abruptly, eyes never leaving Rufus. He was digging around in his pocket now and pulled out a white bottle, hiding it beneath the counter so Chloe wouldn't see. "Hey Zo! Catch, I left the booth before my set's over. Cover for me please," She tossed her keycard to the a scrawny looking guy in a hoody who ran off with a salute. "Shit's about to hit the fan," Beca growled as she crossed the floor. The group of DJs parted to let her through. Confused they looked to Tat and Too who grinned wildly. "Let's show the rookie how tight we DJs are," Tat nodded and followed after Beca.

Rufus seemed to sense that someone was coming and hastily dropped something white and circular into Chloe's drink. "Here babe, must be thirsty after all that dancing," Rufus swirled the drinking around in the cup, trying to get the drugs to dissolve. Chloe smiled, Rufus seemed like a sweet guy, he hadn't been pushy or anything, catering to her every whim. He slid the cup across the counter before he seemed suspicious.

Beca's eyes widened, did that guy just do what she thought he did? He must have more balls than she thought. "Hey there asshole, what do you think you think you're doing?" Beca slid in between Chloe and Rufus, intercepting the cup.

"Beca! What are you doing?" Chloe gasped indignantly. She was tipsy, but still fairly clear headed. She slapped at Beca's arm, confused.

"Yeah, who are you? I was just buying this beautiful girl a drink, now scram loser," Rufus snarled pushing Beca away.

"Oh I don't know Chloe, maybe saving you from roofie boy here," Beca reflexively brushed off Rufus' arm and dumped the contents of the cup onto the counter. Among the gold coloured liquid sat a partially dissolved white pill.

"What? I would never. You put that in there. You're trying to frame me!" Rufus frantically tried to backpedal out of the situation. "Ha! I know! You're just a lesbian skank who's jealous of me. You're jealous you aren't going to get with this beautiful thing," Rufus smirked at Beca's annoyed expression and ran his hand down Chloe's side when he said thing.

At this point, Aubrey finally located Beca. The entire group of Trebles, as well as Cynthia Rose, Stacie and a very drunk Fat Amy followed Aubrey to the bar. Which also was the moment when Benji and Jesse walked out of the bathroom. Just in time to see Beca's infamous right hook clocking Rufus in the nose. Immediately, Rufus' friends leapt to his defense. Rufus smirked pathetically at her through his bloody nose as his friends swarmed around him. "Bad move bitch," he wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

"Over the bar, now," Beca half boosted, half lifted a stunned Chloe over the counter. "Jake! Take care of her!" she yelled to the bartender behind the bar who had realized what was going on.

"Try again roofie boy, we've had enough of you and your friends," Tat stepped in, Too stretching his arms with a grin as the other DJs flocked around them. And suddenly, Beca was back before Rufus. Seething, she delivered a sharp kick to below his belt and the entire half of the club erupted into a fist fight.


	6. Knights Need Rescuing Too

******AN: **Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. The overwhelming response to this fic really motivates and drives me to continue writing. All you awesome nerds in this fandom are exactly as the name implies: awesome. So thank you. You have no idea how much all your support means to me. I love you all. :D

**And to the person, MyPillow, I do believe who challenged me to write more than one chapter at once. As much as I would love to, I realize that I do not have enough time to do so. I rarely get the chance to finish one entire chapter in a single sitting. If I did upload two at once, I would end up just waiting until both chapters would finish. Which would mean that it would take twice the time for the chapters to upload. So I can't. And I want to. But I cannot. :(**

* * *

Beca ducked under a particularly vicious punch and drove her shoulder into her attacker with a wince. She had to be careful, she hadn't really gotten into a proper fight for years and her body wasn't in the greatest shape to take a beating. Too came out of nowhere and grabbed the guy in a chokehold, dragging him away from Beca. All around Beca was chaos, people throwing themselves at people, kicking, shoving, whatever it took. Tat seemed to be in the center of it, shoulder tossing a guy who looked nearly twice her size with relative ease. Beca made a mental note to never tick off the raven.

A good chunk of the other DJs had taken it upon themselves to round up the rest of the crowd that wasn't part of the fist fight and get them out of harms way. They had taken to linking arms and forming a barricade of sorts as they herded the crowd out the front door. No more people needed to join the fist fight. "Well, this escalated quickly," she murmured to herself. Beca hadn't meant for it to turn out into an all out war. Luckily for her, the bartenders were smart enough to start locking up all the glasses and bottles, anything that might actually do some lasting damage.

"I used to fight dingos who put up more of a fight than you!" Fat Amy's voice resounded to Beca's left, making her turn. The sight that greeted her was completely unexpected. The Australian had one of Rufus' friends pinned on the ground and she sat triumphantly on his back, tripping people drunkenly with her feet. Behind her, Aubrey lashed out at another guy with a vicious drop kick while Unicycle restrained him. This fight was just bringing out a side in people that Beca never wanted to see again.

"Beca! We have to get out of here! Its dangerous! Get the rest of the Bellas and the Trebles and lets go!" Jesse's hand was on her forearm, tugging her gently to the exit. "Are you crazy? Punching that guy?" He pushed some guy who was falling, away from them.

"Well I've punched someone for you, its a thing I do for all my friends," Beca quipped, smirking. She was about to go tell Tat and Too to help cool things down when she spotted Rufus trying to sneak out of the club with the rest of the crowd. Any thoughts of stopping the fight went out the window and she broke free from Jesse's grip. There was no way that she was going to let this dirt bag get away with what he had done.

"Oi! Asshole!" Beca grabbed him by the back of his fancy jacket. She hooked a foot around his ankle and shoved him while simultaneously pulling his feet out from underneath him with her foot. The result was him faceplanting onto the dark, tiled floor with a thud. "You're not going anywhere you jerk," Beca hissed and kicked him in the side, sending him rolling across the floor.

He hit the base of a bar stool which stopped him from rolling any further. Beca watched him warily as he picked himself up off of the floor, and suddenly there was a knife in his hand. Beca cursed herself silently, she should've taken him out while he was still down. He was a cocky prick, looking so sure of himself, waving that knife around. But she knew better, a knife was nothing in the hands of an amateur, and in his hands. It was like he was coming after her with a toothpick.

Back in the day, during the time that she spent quite a bit of time on the streets, a knife had always been her weapon of choice. It was small, like her, and easy to conceal as well as wield. Beca also found that people were a great deal more scared of a blade than they were of a gun. Something about a knife was just more sadistic. Despite the amount of time that had passed since Beca's street years, learning how to deal with dangerous situations like these weren't something that you easily forgot.

* * *

From her safe spot behind the counter, Chloe could only watch with her jaw dropped. These were her friends, and complete strangers, but Beca probably knew them since they had followed the petite woman across the dance floor, who were beating up this guy and his friends for her. Her vision was still a little bit whacked up, but she figured that was from whatever Rufus had spiked her drink with. The bartender, Jake, was it? Chloe couldn't really remember what Beca had called him, nor could she really read his name tag properly to find out. Well the bartender had pressed a glass of water into her hand, insisting that it would probably help.

And the water did, her vision had cleared a little bit, and her balance wasn't as messed up as it had been before, but Chloe was definitely out of it. So when Rufus suddenly popped up in front of the bar, knife in hand she thought that this would be it. He would leap over the counter and slice her throat open. But just as quickly as Rufus had popped up, Beca was there, and she grabbed his wrist, the one connected to the hand with the knife in it.

Swiftly, Beca twisted his wrist inwards, trying to get him to release the knife as well as eliciting a cry of pain from the man. Unfortunately, Rufus held on, desperately trying to catch Beca with the edge of the blade. Growling, Beca drove her knuckles into his side, trying to locate his kidneys with her fist on the fly. She seemed to have caught part of his kidney, when he let out another cry of pain. Reflexively, Beca ducked under his swing, still not loosening her grip on his other arm.

Thinking quickly, she brought his arm with her when she ducked past the punch. Now his knife bearing hand arm was awkwardly pulled against his torso and Beca was behind him. Seizing her chance, she put all of her weight into a straight jab to his arm pit, right by the shoulder joint. His grip on the knife slackened a little bit and Beca knocked it out of his hands. Spinning him around again, she nailed him with an uppercut that was sure to leave his ears ringing. Which apparently, wasn't all that hard because the guy recovered moments later when Beca was scanning the ground for the dropped knife.

"Beca!" Chloe heard herself scream. She hadn't even realized that she was screaming. Rufus had picked himself back up and he was rushing at Beca while her back was turned.

Surprised, Beca's eyes flicked up for a second and met Chloe's terrified sapphire ones. Seeing the fear in Chloe's eyes, Beca turned around instinctively. "Shit," she swore as she was body checked into the bar counter. There was a sharp crack as Beca's weak shoulder met the hard marble counter. She let out a yelp of pain as she slid down to the floor. It felt like someone had ripped her entire arm off and Beca could only sit there, helplessly watching Rufus look for his knife.

He had found it, and he triumphantly brandished it above his head, point it at her. Chloe was already scrabbling over the counter, one of her heels in hand and she whipped it at Rufus as hard as she could. She was incredibly lucky, usually, she had pinpoint accuracy but definitely not while she was drunk. Drunk Chloe had the worst hand eye coordination ever. Beca watched, in amazement as Chloe's heel managed to hit Rufus square in the face and he dropped his knife again. Still, that wouldn't be enough to deter him and much to Beca's relief, Mike reappeared with Johnny and Dave in tow.

From his jacket, Dave produced what looked like a gun and pointed it skywards. The loud resulting bang made everyone freeze in their tracks. "Just a cap gun," Dave explained sheepishly as he put the gun back into his pocket. "Rufus Stevens, you're under arrest on four accounts of sexual assault and rape. Plus with what we have here tonight, I think we'll get you for sure," Dave unhooked a pair of handcuffs from his belt loop, also revealing his gleaming badge.

Beca looked surprised that the bouncer was actually a plainclothes cop, she never would've suspected. "Dave's been keeping an eye on Rufus for a while now," Johnny explained, watching as two officers in uniform escort Rufus out the front of the club with a satisfied look on his face.

"So we're not in trouble are we?" Too asked, dropping the guy that he had been holding. Chloe leapt down from the counter, and gently eased Beca to her feet. Unsteadily, Beca gripped the edge of the counter so hard that she could feel the marble digging into her palms. It wasn't that she needed to steady herself, but she needed something to take the edge off of her shoulder. Chloe spotted her shoe next to Rufus' knife and tried to pick it up. With her dazed vision, she ended up grabbing Rufus' knife, by the handle thankfully. Unsure of what to do with it, she closed the switchblade and tucked it into her dress. Finally locating her shoe, she decided to forgo the heels and removed the other one as well, dangling the pair over her shoulder by the straps.

"I'll let you all off with a warning, nothing will be on your records. We did get Rufus, so nothing will happen to you guys probably, unless Johnny has something in mind. Johnny?" Dave grinned, he was pleased. Although he didn't really expect things to go down in a bar fight, whatever got the job done.

Johnny shrugged, "Well nothing was damaged, and I made a lot of money, thanks to the kid tonight. I expect you all to show up for work tomorrow though. No lates, no excuses." He clapped Beca on the back, eliciting a whimper of pain from the DJ. "What's wrong kid? You okay?" Johnny was immediately concerned, this was his new star DJ, and he actually didn't mind the brunette in comparison to some of the other rookie DJs.

"My shoulder," Beca hissed through clenched teeth, she held it protectively, shying away from any physical contact. Chloe and Jesse were immediately at her side, their concern written all over their faces.

"Come on, I'll take you to the hospital, Tat, you want that cut checked out too?" Johnny zipped up his jacket and pulled out his car keys.

"I'm good, just a minor scratch. Take care of the rookie," there was a small gash running underneath the raven's left eye. The blood had dried a little bit and Too handed his twin a napkin to clean it up a little bit. Tat crossed the floor in two strides, her long legs making it easy for her to do so. "You're a tough kid. You'll be fine, feel free to call us if you need," the older DJ gave Beca hug, keeping her shoulder in mind and a peck to the cheek that made both Chloe and Jesse squirm uncomfortably.

Johnny fished out a pair of keys from his pocket and tossed it to Mike. "Lock up for me Mike," "Dave, can you give us an escort to the nearest hospital?"

The undercover cop shrugged, "Yeah, I'll just let Rufus sit in lockup for a while longer. Not a problem."

Nodding, Johnny led the way out of his club towards his car. Chloe and Jesse flanked Beca to the car and helped her get into the black sedan. "Chloe? I'm going to drive Fat Amy, Stacie and Cynthia Rose back to the dorms, are you going to be okay getting home?" Aubrey peered around the edge of the door while the redhead tried to buckle Beca's seatbelt around her without causing her anymore pain.

"I'm going to the hospital with Beca, I'll call you if I need a ride home," Aubrey nodded and disappeared from Chloe's field of view.

"Jesse? Sorry, but we need you to drive Unicycle and a few of the other guys home," Benji's face appeared where Aubrey's once was and Jesse, who was on the other side of Beca, holding her hand, groaned.

"Benji, can't you see my girlfriend is injured?" Jesse almost growled angrily.

"Jesse, its fine. Chloe's going with me. You need to drive Unicycle and them back. Taxi service sucks here, and I'll probably get out of the hospital in an hour," at his girlfriend's reassurance, Jesse finally sighed and nodded at Benji.

"I'll drive to the hospital to see you after I drop them off then okay?" He pressed a quick kiss into Beca's temple and he stepped out of the car as well.

The drive to the hospital was quick and short with Beca curling into Chloe's side as the older woman tried to sooth her pain with no avail. "You saved my life," Beca murmured, her head resting in the crook of Chloe's neck. "Brilliant aim by the way," Her voice was laced with pain and it made Chloe's heart ache to see the DJ in pain and unable to do anything about.

"You've done the same, multiple times. I'm lucky like that. Lucky to have you be my knight, but sometimes a knight needs to be rescued too," Chloe whispered and she felt a smile tug at Beca's lips. By the time Johnny pulled up to the emergency room doors, Dave had already been to the counter and a nurse was waiting at the doors with a wheelchair. As carefully as possible, Chloe helped Beca transition out of the car and into the wheelchair.

The nurse whisked Beca away into the depths of the gleaming white hallways and Chloe followed, Beca was holding her hand tightly and wouldn't let go. They were brought to a typical hospital room with a bed pushed up against a wall and a counter with cabinets along the other. "The doctor's on his way," the nurse informed them and left.

Realizing that her hand was clenched tightly around Chloe's, Beca hastily let go, her eyes dropping to the floor with embarrassment. "Sorry, I don't really like hospitals," Beca admitted, letting Chloe help move her from the wheelchair to the bed.

"Well, I'm right here the entire time. Nothing to worry about," Chloe took Beca's hand again and squeezed it in reassurance. At this moment, the doctor decided to walk in, his was in his mid fifties, with slightly graying hair.

"Ms. Beca Mitchell?" and Beca nodded, biting her lip the entire time. "I'm Dr. Williams. What is the problem today?" The doctor opened up what she assumed to be her records and scanned it briefly. If there was anything on there that surprised him, he definitely didn't show it.

"Well, I like fell and hit my shoulder on this counter," Beca lied, no need to get into all the fun details of tonight right?

"Can I take a look at your shoulder please?" The doctor closed the file folder and gestured for her to remove her jacket. Chloe got up from her spot beside Beca and slid the jacket sleeve off of her arm. Even through Beca's top, you could see something was wrong. Instead of the smooth, rounded contour of her shoulder, the joint was oddly protruding from its socket. The bulk of the leather jacket had managed to hide it, but under the thin shirt, it was rather evident. Dr. Williams only needed one look to tell what was wrong. "You've dislocated your shoulder. I'll need to take an x-ray to be sure, but if it is dislocated, we'll just set it and put you in a sling. I'll go set up the x-ray room and send a nurse in with a gown for you to change into." The doctor disappeared out the door, file in hand, his shoes clicking on the linoleum.

A nurse appeared aptly with a neatly folded gown in her hands. "When you're done changing, head for the elevator down the hall. The radiology is on the third floor, Dr. Williams will be waiting for you there," and then the two of them were alone again.

Beca stared at the gown that was given to her and then at Chloe. Taking the hint, Chloe hastily turned around to face the wall, "You know, its not like I haven't seen it all before."

"Oh shush," Beca retorted. Her tie wasn't hard to get rid off, but the shirt became more problematic. She managed to get one arm out of her shirt before she realized that it was nearly impossible to get her dislocated shoulder arm out. Awkwardly stuck with one arm in her shirt and one arm out, she had no choice but to ask for help. "Chloe?"

"What?" Upon hearing Beca's voice, the ginger had immediately whirled around, thinking that something was wrong. Upon seeing Beca standing there, looking so fragile. Her shirt was half on and half off and Chloe realized what the problem was. "Oh, I can help you," Chloe took a deep breath and gently tugged the shirt over Beca's head and then down her arm.

Beca sucked in a breath at the feeling of Chloe's fingertips on her midriff as she gently picked up fingerfuls of the shirt. Her touch was as light as a butterfly's wings and the ghost of that electricity she had felt that one night when Chloe had drunkenly kissed her returned. "Let me help you with your bra too," Chloe murmured, her fingers already dancing over the black bra clasp and it fell to the side in seconds. Seeing that Beca could get her pants off herself, Chloe quickled turned back around, going back to examining the ceiling.

"Okay, you can turn back around," Chloe turned around, the gown was far too big for Beca. Her frame was completely dwarfed by the white piece of fabric. It made her look far more vulnerable than she would've liked.

Nodding, Chloe gathered up all of Beca's clothes and shoved them into her purse. Then she spun the wheelchair around to face Beca, "Come on, I'll push you to radiology."

"Chloe!" Beca exclaimed indignantly. She was far too proud and stubborn to let herself be babied. "I dislocated my shoulder! Not my knees. I can walk!"

"Knowing you, you'll probably somehow make it worse in the two minutes it takes us to get there. Now please get in the chair so we can go?" Chloe decided to throw reasoning with the petite woman out the window. You could throw every single plausible reason at Beca and she wouldn't budge on her decision. Begging however, Chloe had a pretty good success rate with that one. Pouting, Chloe threw in her best puppy dog eyes, Beca could never resist.

Beca stared at her for a long moment. Chloe knew that every time she put that face on, Beca could never say no. She had ended up agreeing to dress up for Halloween as cupid once because of that stupid face. "You cannot use that face here. Its not fair," Beca whined pathetically and caved to Chloe's demands. Dramatically, she stomped over to the wheelchair, her bare feet slapping against the cold linoleum. Still grumbling, she sat down on the chair with a huff as Chloe picked up her boots and hung them over the back of the chair.

"See, not so hard is it?" Chloe grinned smugly and wheeled Beca out into the hallway.

* * *

Beca groaned and wearily propped herself up on her bed with her left arm. She was in her own dorm room again. The only reminder of the events last night was a sling wrapped around her right arm. She must've fallen asleep in the Jesse's car on the way back from the hospital. The x-ray had confirmed Dr. William's suspicions and it took only another half an hour to relocate it, which surprisingly hurt a lot less than Beca remembered. The nurse then put her arm in the sling and she was released from the hospital.

Jesse had shown up sometime in between the relocating and the sling. He had paled at the sight of the doctor relocating the DJ's arm and had politely excused himself to go to the washroom. After that, he drove Chloe and Beca back to Barden. Beca only vaguely remembered the car ride and falling asleep against Chloe's shoulder. Jesse must've carried her back, she mused.

The smell of breakfast brought her back to reality. A brown paper bag was sitting on her desk, along with her messenger bag and equipment from last night. Johnny had sent someone over with her things. Happily, Beca slid out of bed and sat at her desk. It took her a moment to figure out how to open the bag with just one hand. All her equipment was there and Beca breathed a sigh of relief, she was just booting up her laptop when she remembered the paper bag.

Attached to the paper bag was a cotton candy blue piece of paper. Someone had written on it in sparkly purple gel pen with flowing cursive: "Beca! Good morning! I've picked up breakfast for you, your favourite. I've also taken the liberty of talking to your dad for you. Don't worry. I told him that you just fell and that you need your rest so he won't bother you for a while. I also took Jesse's green tea latte that he left you, I know you don't like them. I forgot that I picked up Rufus' knife last night. I don't want it so its yours. Consider it a spoil of war or something. If you need any help or anything at all, give me a call. ~Chloe"

Beca stared at the note for a while, reading and rereading it. At first she was mortified that Chloe had talked to her dad. But then when she realized that Chloe was covering for her and her dad wouldn't bother her for a while, Beca was more than pleased. Cautiously, Beca peered into the bag, half expecting some kind of a creature to jump out at her. She never recalled telling Chloe what her favourite breakfast food was, so naturally now, she was curious.

Sitting inside the bag, wrapped in tin foil so the food would keep warm, were two breakfast wraps a cup of coffee and a red switch blade. Carefully, Beca pulled out the switchblade first. She pushed the little button on the side and the blade flicked open silently. The edge was still sharp, and the knife itself in pretty good condition, shrugging, Beca closed the blade against her desk and tossed it into her bag. Then she turned her attention to the food. Eyes widening, Beca unwrapped one of the wraps. Bacon, eggs, ham, sausage and cheese covered in a delicious secret sauce. Chloe had been to the diner across the campus. Beca went there for breakfast whenever she could. It was her favourite breakfast place. She had discovered it one day while she was trying to get away from her dad and had gone back ever since.

Realizing how hungry she was, Beca began to eat, sighing in contentment. Holding the wrap in her mouth, she pulled out the cup of coffee and opened it. It smelled of expresso, with whip too. Chloe was the best, Beca decided, she'd have to take her out for lunch or something some day.

* * *

Chloe smiled as she made her way across campus. Beca had sent her a text a while earlier saying thank-you and that she owed her lunch. Well, it was lunch time now, why not go surprise the DJ and go out for lunch together? Last she had checked, Beca had a while before her first class, which was in the afternoon, Chloe had no idea how she managed to score that. Plus, Jesse was busy at the radio station. She figured that she'd pop by the brunette's dorm and see if she could surprise her before.

Beca's door was locked and Chloe smirked. From her pocket she produced her set of keys with the Barden rape whistle's lanyard holding them all together. She picked a silver key and inserted it into the lock. The lock clicked open and Chloe let herself in. She knew that getting Beca's room key from her dad was a good idea. It was certainly very handy, maybe she should get a key for herself when she had to return Dr. Mitchell's key.

Much to her dismay, the room was completely devoid of any human presence and Chloe flopped backwards onto the bed. There was nothing that she could do now except maybe wait for Beca to get back. Maybe she should call her? But before Chloe could even get her own phone out, a vibrating noise brought her attention to Beca's desk. Beca hadn't bothered to take her phone with her so she was probably planning to be back pretty soon.

With a sigh, Chloe scanned the room around her, trying to find any clues on Beca's whereabouts. Her closet door was wide open and Chloe noticed that her towel was missing from its hook, along with her bathrobe and shower caddy. Smiling, Chloe left the room and headed for the showers. Might as well check on the brunette to make sure she didn't kill herself in the shower or something. How small and fragile Beca had seemed in the hospital last night really tugged at Chloe's heartstrings. Beca looked visibly traumatized sitting in the chair with the x-ray. The entire time, she kept her eyes locked on Chloe's, who was standing behind the glass observation window with Dr. Williams.

When they finally let Beca out of the x-ray, she collapsed into Chloe's arms, shaken and tired. When Beca said that she didn't like hospitals, she really didn't it seemed. Something about them really disturbed her and it showed Chloe how vulnerable the headstrong DJ was.

* * *

Beca groaned internally this whole one armed thing was really starting to suck, like a lot. It had taken her nearly twenty minutes to change out of her clothes and into a bath robe. Now she stood in the middle of her stall, hot water streaming down her skin. Getting the cap off of her shampoo bottle was easier than she had originally thought. She kept forgetting that just because her shoulder had been dislocated, that didn't mean that she didn't have use of her other hand, she just had to be really careful.

Currently, her problem was trying to shampoo her hair. It was difficult to do with just one hand, and when she tried to use her other hand a ripple of pain shot up her shoulder and she let out a hiss, immediately dropping that hand. "Want a hand?" Came a voice behind her, "no pun intended." Beca nearly screamed at the presence of someone else in her stall. She whirled around, grabbing the shower curtain to cover herself. "Chloe! This is the second time!"

"What? I'm sorry! It seemed like you needed some help!" Chloe grinned sheepishly at the smaller woman. The showers at this time were empty, thank goodness because this would be really weird. It was also how Chloe found Beca's stall, it was the only one occupied, that and the faint strains of a melody emitting from the stall. "Now turn around, and don't get me wet," Chloe rolled up her sleeves and looked at Beca with her eyebrows raised faintly. "Its not like I haven't seen it before."

With a huff of defeat, Beca reluctantly turned around, wondering how she got herself into this situation. Using the shower curtain as an shield or apron of sorts, Chloe trailed her fingers through Beca's silky chocolate locks. They fell into an easy, comfortable silence as Chloe gently massaged Beca's scalp in a way that was very much like how Beca had done for her a while back. The feeling of Chloe's butterfly light touch on her head made Beca very nostalgic as she stood there under the steady stream of steaming water.

Silently, Beca handed Chloe the conditioner as well and Chloe began working the fruity smelling liquid into those brown tresses. Chloe did her best to keep her face perfect composed and her eyes trained upwards. Although she had seen everything the last time, it was still very tempting to let her eyes roam freely, downwards. Hastily, Chloe backed out of the shower stall before she did something that she might actually regret.

"I'll see you in your room!" Chloe called out cheerily and retreated out to the hallway before Beca could say anything else. The DJ stared at the spot where Chloe had been, just moments before. Had that been anybody else in her shower, Beca would've freaked. But it was Chloe. And that was their second, or did that last one count as well? Two or three, it didn't matter. Chloe was getting good at barging in on her personal space bubble, but she couldn't bring herself to complain about it.


	7. Not Your Knight

******AN: **Sorry about the super long wait. Life and school has just been super hectic and the writing has been slow. Hopefully, the next update will come along much smoother and it won't be too much hassle. *fingers crossed* Thank you to all those that reviewed and liked and so on and so forth. You have no idea how much it means to me to see all this support and to hear your feedback. This chapter is a bit longer than my other chapters, so perhaps that'll make up for the long wait. And this is a chapter that a lot people have been pushing for. Although it might be different than what you were expecting. *warning. a litttttllllllleee angsty*

* * *

Beca grumbled to herself as she propped herself up with her one good arm. She hated not having the use of both her arms, it had been over a week since the bar fight and the bloody joint was still hurting. While she was desperate to make the joint heal faster, she didn't want to make it any worse either, so she had taken to doing some very light stretches every now and then. Sometimes her shoulder would get all tense and stiff from being in the same position for so long, while the stretching helped, nothing like a nice hot shower followed by a hot compress didn't fix.

Aubrey had dropped in to check on Beca the day after the incident to make sure she was okay. Couldn't let the new Bellas captain die too quickly of course. It was in the evening, Beca was sitting in her dorm room, making new mixes as her stomach happily digested the remains of the lunch that she shared with Chloe. Lunch with Chloe had been slightly more embarrassing than Beca could imagine. Of course she had to dislocate her right shoulder which was connected to her right arm which was connected to her right hand. And of course. She was right-handed. Thus when they decided to go to eat at the new Thai place that was a five-minute walk off of campus, they obviously weren't thinking ahead.

Trying to eat the noodles with her left hand, was yes, a bit of a gong show. She wasn't able to lift her right arm enough to get the chopsticks to her lips. Instead she was using this awkward method of twirling the strands of noodles with her right and then precariously balancing the load between the two chopsticks with her left. Multiple times she had ended up dropping a good chunk of it somewhere between the plate and her mouth.

Chloe had watched her with this amused expression on her face as she placed another bite of her pad thai into her mouth delicately, not one morsel of the food ending up on her face. Beca growled in frustration as she flicked another greasy noodle off of the napkin she had wisely decided to place on her lap. With a huff, she threw the chopsticks down on the table angrily and opted to take a long sip of her coke instead.

"Here," before Beca could even react, Chloe had picked up Beca's pair of chopsticks. She gathered a good-sized pile of the noodles with taunting ease and lifted the chopsticks, noodles bundled neatly between the chopsticks.. Beca stared at the bite of food dumbly with her jaw slightly agape. Chloe took this as an opportunity to advance and pushed the chopstickful of noodles into Beca's mouth. "See? Wasn't so hard was it?" Chloe chirped innocently. She picked up her own napkin and proceeded to dab at a smear of sauce on Beca's cheek.

"Chloe! I'm not two! I can feed myself!" Beca spluttered with her mouth half full, swatting at Chloe's hand on her face.

"Tsk tsk Beca, no talking with your mouth full," Chloe continued, completely ignoring the brunette's protests and picking up a piece of chicken. Beca, reduced to a spluttering mess, swallowed the bite of food and opened her mouth to protest, only to find another chopstickful of food already past her lips. The rest of lunch proceeded in that manner, every time Beca tried to take the chopsticks back from Chloe, the redhead would only raise the utensils triumphantly out of Beca's reach.

Humiliated, Beca begrudgingly allowed Chloe to continue feeding her, mainly because she had no other choice. The entire time, amusement tugged at the corners of Chloe's lips and she fought to keep her expression straight. She didn't want to antagonize Beca any more than necessary by laughing. But antagonizing the petite woman was just so fun sometimes. And Beca did look so adorable when she was all huffy and grumpy.

Needless to say, Chloe left lunch with an extra skip in her step and a small smile on her face. Beca trailed after her, forehead creased but a hint of a smile tugging gently at a corner of her lips. Chloe brought out something else in her, whenever she spent time in the redhead's presence, she couldn't help but feel her spirits lift and everything was just so simple and comfortable.

Like take right now for an instance, the mere memory of Chloe placed a small smile at her face. Beca rolled stiffly out of bed and began the tiresome chore of getting dressed, it took her an extra twenty minutes. Which also meant that she had to wake up an extra twenty minutes early, which was also why she had been really cranky lately. Beca Mitchell liked her sleep, she needed her sleep. Every single second of sleep counted for her, especially because she tended to stay up late working on her mixes. Something else which was also hampered by her stupid shoulder.

Since then, she had decided to isolate herself for a while. Cranky Beca tended to step on other people's toes. And she did not feel like losing any more friends because she really didn't have all that many to begin with. Plus with exams and things, life tended to suck. With a faint hiss of pain, Beca slid into a t-shirt and lazily tossed her red hoodie on over top. Briefly, she entertained the notion of putting on a pair of jeans but then decided the hassle wasn't worth it, her sweats that she had slept in would have to do.

Still grumbling, she hooked her bag over her good shoulder and headed for the door. Before she could even grab the door knob, her cell phone rang. Beca pulled the device out from her pocket, tossing it to her other hand so that she could actually lift the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Becaaaaaw!" Beca sighed internally and sandwiched the phone between her shoulder and ear so she could continue opening the door.

"Yes, Jesse?" she let the door click shut behind her, indicating that it was locked. She ignored the stares that a few of the kids gave her and her sling in the hallway. The story of the bar fight had spread pretty fast, no thanks to Fat Amy and Unicycle of course. The two of them couldn't keep anything to themselves it seemed. Beca really wished the story hadn't spread, she didn't particularly enjoy the extra attention she was getting from it. But on top of that, she was getting for a fair bit of attention as DJ Bella so it was just a lot of people noticing her all at the same time.

"Its our one month anniversary today! Remember about dinner tonight!" Jesse's voice was so enthusiastic that it made Beca wince. He had reminded her about this dinner for the past week. Every single day, to make sure that she kept her schedule free and so she wouldn't forget either. It was beginning to get tiresome really.

"Did you remember that I am semi disabled so you picked an appropriate restaurant?" There was a pause on the other line and Beca forced down a sigh. Of course Jesse didn't, he had his perfect romantic dinner in mind, which of course did not calculate Beca's injury.

"Erm... yeah..." He totally didn't.

"Seriously Jesse?" Beca lowered her voice to a growl so that she wouldn't attract any more unwanted attention in the hallway.

"I'm sorry babe! I was just so focused on making it the perfect date for our one month anniversary that it completely slipped my mind! Everything will be fine. The restaurant makes this amazing burger and fries combo which I am sure that you will love." Perfect date? Well there wasn't much to compare it to, in the month that they had dated, they had only gone out twice, on official 'dates'. The other times were more of a hang out kind of thing and there were always other people there.

Beca paused, glaring at the ceiling in exasperation. She could tell that this dinner meant a lot to Jesse and she cared enough about him not to completely crush him. Although she was sorely tempted to. "Fine," she said after a long moment and she could hear Jesse let out an audible sigh of relief. Sometimes, Beca doubted the healthiness of this entire relationship. Actually, make that a lot of times. Something inside of her told her to just break up with Jesse already, she knew that she should like him but she didn't really. But Jesse made sense, unlike so many other things in her life that didn't. Jesse was consistent, and stable and steady. He was like a constant in her life and he made sense, most of the time.

"You're the best babe, this'll be the most romantic date you've ever gone on," Jesse gushed, "you will dress up right? In a dress and everything? Because this is like the most important date."

Beca sighed, and wondered if she even had a dress in her closet right now, or anything that was even remotely appropriate. The meat and potatoes of her wardrobe were dark flannel shirts and ripped skinny jeans. She had never been in need of a dress in the past really, so she didn't really have one on her right now. Mind spinning, she struggled to throw an outfit together in her head that would seem at least semi appropriate, or recall some sort of dress stashed away in her closet.

Well there was that one dress that her mother had given her one year for Christmas or something else. She could wear that one, it was probably somewhere in her closet. The dress would also give her an excuse to lose the sling for a little while too. "Yes, Jesse. I will. Now I'm going to be late to class. I'll talk to you later okay?"

"You're the best, I'll see you tonight, babe," Beca hung up and shoved her phone into her pocket before he could drag out his farewell. Stupid dress, it would take her at least an hour to get into it and get ready now. An hour she could've spent on her mixes. Needless to say, Beca was still very grumpy.

* * *

Chloe stretched sleepily as she wandered down the hallway to the library, a cup of coffee in her hand. She only had three classes today which was a definite blessing. Since her first class didn't start for another hour, she could curl up happily in her favourite and her lucky armchair and perhaps fall asleep in the early morning sunbeam.

She had discovered the spot in her freshman year, it was very quiet, out-of-the-way spot. And the librarian in charge of that section of the library was the nicest old lady ever. She never minded when Chloe brought food or drinks into the library. So long that she didn't make a mess of course. Cheerfully, Chloe found her secret spot empty. It always was empty. It was sheltered by a labyrinth of bookshelves and then tucked into a little alcove, it was almost completely hidden and completely hers.

Humming, she folded herself neatly into the plush arm-chair, sinking into the soft cushions without second thought. Here, the world slowed to a stop it seemed, it was so quiet, so peaceful. Birds chirped softly outside the large window and sunlight streamed in softly surrounding her in rays of warmth. She could never get tired of this place, she mused as she set her bag down on the table beside her. She was also at her most productive here, countless essays and late night cramming sessions had been spent here.

Idly, she pulled her phone out of her bag, still carefully nursing a coffee in her other hand. There were no new messages, the last one from Aubrey, wishing her a good morning. There were a bunch of texts that she had sent off a bunch of lame excuses as replies, they were all from guys that she had met before, asking her out and things. She just wasn't up for any of that nowadays.

Past those messages was a conversation she was having, or had, with Beca. The texts were sparse and few in between, short and crisp replies from Beca and her own, riddled with emoticons and exclamation points. Honestly, it was a one-sided conversation. Beca was one of those people who had a phone but would never really check it, or just flat-out leave it in her room, the battery dead. More often than not though, she just didn't feel like replying, read your text and let it be, typical Beca fashion. Now on top of her terrible texting habits, she struggled to reached her phone a lot of the time with her messed up arm too. So getting a reply from her was really quite difficult.

Chloe enjoyed that Beca seemed to go out of her way to reply to her texts, even if it was just a simple one word answer. It made Chloe feel special somehow, which was always a good thing. She selected the conversation and fired off another text. Just a simple text, one word. "Hey!"

There was a brief pause but her phone buzzed moments later. "Hi."

Chloe stared at the text for a moment. There was a period on the end of that hi. What was that supposed to mean? Was Beca angry? Or sad? "What's wrong Becs?"

Another long pause as Chloe twirled a long lock of her hair as she waited. She nearly leapt out of her seat when her phone vibrated again. "Nothing dude. Chloe. I have an iPhone. Its automatic."

"Oh. Sorry. Just worried about you Becs. :) How's the shoulder?" Chloe let out a sigh of relief, Beca could be so weird sometimes. Actually make that most times.

"Its fine, don't worry."

"That's good. So. Wanna hang out tonight?"

"I'm kinda busy tonight Chlo. Sorry. Some other time?"

Busy hmm. She had used that excuse before, in fact, on that same night that she ended up dislocated her shoulder. So she was working tonight then? Maybe she could stop by the club tonight then. Surprise the brunette. She didn't really get to thank that one bartender who helped her that night and Beca's music was excellent. "Alright. I'm still holding you to the last promise. :D"

"I always keep my word. :P" Excellent, she could wear that new dress that she got the other week then.

* * *

Beca groaned as she wiped another smear of eyeliner from under her eye, she was trying to apply the stupid stuff with her left hand. It had taken her a good half hour to slip into her dress and it had taken twenty minutes just to apply eyeliner to her right eye. And she had even gone easy on the eyeliner this time too. She was definitely going to be late. Gritting her teeth, Beca finished the last little bit as smoothly as she could. This whole one-armed thing sucked. Like majorly.

At last, she threw the eyeliner back into her make up bag and picked up her heels, she only ever had the one pair. The ones that Aubrey made her get for the Bellas performance and she had never really wore much after the ICCA's. Actually, make that never.

Hastily, Beca threw her headphones into her bag, you never knew when they came in handy. She shoved her feet into her heels and hurriedly left the dorm room, the door slamming shut behind her.

* * *

"Please Bree? I don't want to go alone," Chloe whined pathetically as she applied lip gloss to her lips. Smiling, she ran her index finger over her lips to smooth over the gloss and spread it evenly.

"Chlo, I have a paper to write. And knowing where you're going, you probably won't be coming alone tonight," Aubrey quipped, not even looking up from her laptop, fingers flying the keyboard.

"Really Bree? You know she's taken right?" Chloe ran her fingers through her perfectly curled red locks, trying to tame one particularly difficult curl.

"I never said anything about her," Aubrey murmured, still not looking up from the screen.

"You know what? I'm just going to go," Chloe grumbled, stomping out the door before Aubrey could take another jab at her.

"I never said it was Beca!"

* * *

"I got that," Jesse carefully wrapped up Beca's burger with a napkin to hold it together and prevent the sauce from dripping everywhere.

Beca had to admit, the restaurant that Jesse had picked was a good choice. It was classy, they could dress up and not stand out at all, but not so classy that it looked weird that Beca was eating a burger. Not that the burger was anything ordinary, it was a really fancy burger. There was a deep-fried oyster sandwiched between a choice cut of beef and a few slices of yellow tomatoes.

"Thanks," Beca smiled at him and carefully took the burger with her good hand. Jesse smiled back at her and squeezed her free hand gently in reply. The Treble Maker went back to cutting up his own steak into his bite size pieces happily. "How's it taste?" Beca asked, taking a bite of her burger. This was by far the best burger that she had ever tasted, that was for sure.

"Delicious," Jesse replied with a grin, spearing another piece of steak and eating it quite happily. The candle on their table cast gentle shadows upon the plates and glasses, providing this warm and romantic atmosphere, something which Jesse had aimed for apparently. The restaurant was also pretty empty, with a few scattered patrons here and there. Jesse had purposely picked a time after the dinner rush so that they could have their privacy. "How's the burger?" Jesse eyed the monstrosity of a burger that Beca was savoring. It was a little bit unorthodox for his taste.

"The best damn burger I've ever had," Beca replied, she took a sip of her coke before digging into her burger eagerly again.

"You know, this past month with you has been amazing. All the time we spent together, all the movies we watched. Its great," Jesse shot her another smile and a wink.

Beca raised her eyebrows at him in faint amusement, "Only you would put movies and great together. You still haven't changed my mind about movies. Most of them still suck." Other than the Breakfast Club, there were maybe only a few others that Beca didn't mind watching. And she could definitely count the amount of movies that she didn't mind on one hand. Jesse had pretty much gone through his entire movie collection, whenever they had a chance, they'd watch a movie. Beca didn't find any that she liked in particular.

"You'll come around Beca, you'll see. One day, you will love movies as much as I do," Jesse chuckled, waving his fork at her as a warning.

"Stop waving your fork around and eat your food. You're going to take someone's eye out dude," Beca scowled in reply. There was no way that she was ever going to love movies. That much was final. Jesse chuckled again before turning back to his steak, cutting up another chunk. Beca finished her burger and popped a lightly seasoned potato wedge into her mouth. When she looked up from her plate, Jesse was staring at her amusedly.

"What?" she shot him a glare, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You've got a little something something on your face there," Jesse smirked, he picked up his own napkin and gently wiped the dab of sauce off her cheek.

Beca's face burned and hastily ducked out of his reach before he could do anything else. Quickly, she wiped her face with her own napkin, throughly so that she wouldn't miss anything. "All gone?" Jesse nodded and Beca sat back in her chair, slightly relieved. It wasn't that she still abhorred physical contact, but this entire situation was just so similar to the one that she had been in just days before. But across from her was Chloe instead of Jesse. Thoughts flooded her mind and she didn't know what to think, or do.

Her phone buzzed on the table and eager for the distraction, Beca picked it up right away. "Bec-" Jesse started, a disapproving look on his face. He didn't like it when their dates were interrupted, and especially this date, because it was their one month anniversary after all.

Beca cut him off with a wave of her hand, covering the speaker so that the person on the other line wouldn't hear her, she hissed, "It's from Mike. He never calls unless its important." Jesse shut up, all though a little bit reluctantly. He knew how important Beca's work was to her.

"Hello? Beca?" Beca could hear the low throb of the heavy bass and the chatter of human voices in the background. It sounded like a busy night at Fever though the noise was muted somewhat, Mike was probably in the back then.

"Yeah?" From the look on Jesse's face, she had better make this call quick.

"So you remember the other night? The one that you got in a fight?"

"Yeah...?" Why was Mike calling and bringing this up now?

"Remember how you asked me to keep an eye on Red?" This made Beca sit up a little more attentively.

"What about her?"

"So she showed up tonight, I recognized her when she came to get drinks." Beca was confused now, why was Mike telling her this? It was really none of her business.

"She's an adult Mike. She can go to the club if she wants, give her a discount, from me." Now it was Jesse's turn to perk up, this conversation was taking a strange turn and he didn't particularly like it.

"I gave her the discount, don't worry. But like I thought that I should keep an eye on her you know, after last time, thought it'd be a good idea."

"And?" Why couldn't the guy just spit it out, Beca thought to herself frustratedly.

"Well, she's on the floor. And there's this guy. And he's getting real handsy-"

"No, she's an adult Mike. And single. Just 'cause some guy is getting handsy with her on the floor-"

"I don't think she wants it Becs. She keeps pushing him away and he keeps going after her." That took a moment to sink in.

"Oh... Oh."

"What do you want me to do?"

* * *

Chloe showed up to Fever dressed in this tight sapphire blue dress and matching heels. It had taken her an hour to curl her hair perfectly and get her make up to look just right. And she had to find the matching heels in the back of her giant black hole of a closet. By the time she joined the growing line up, it was already starting to snake down the block.

People lined up all around her, eager to get into the club. From the distance, Chloe was only able to hear the low-end of all the music, that heavy bass and kick. She couldn't pick up any telltale signs of what the song actually was, the heavy bass could easily be something of Beca's or some other DJ. With a sigh, Chloe settled for leaning against the wall of the building and just let the sounds wash over her.

The club was pretty much packed when Chloe actually got in through the front doors. The smell of alcohol and sweat was strong, the crowd of people dancing on the dance floor fervently a definite reason why. She made her way through the crowd to the bar, ignoring the couple of whistles and catcalls that she received on her. "Hey! You're Red! Becs' friend," Chloe looked up to see one of the bartenders grinning at her.

"Its Chloe. I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch your name last time I was here," Chloe returned the grin and slid into an empty seat across from the bartender.

"Mike, the bar here is my kingdom, and I am the ruler of it," Mike joked and picked up wiped down another glass, setting it down on the table. "What can I get you there, you trouble maker?"

Chloe chuckled, "Coke please. Just coke."

"Trying to stay sober hm?" Mike obliged and poured her a tall glass of the dark, fizzy liquid. As a second thought, he added a straw and a lemon as well.

"Perhaps," Chloe replied coyly. Another song started up and Chloe paused, her straw halfway to her lips, this track wasn't Beca. There were many common elements with Beca's style but something in Chloe just knew that this couldn't be Beca. She stared at the DJ booth, wishing desperately it might actually be Beca. But there wasn't the intricate harmonies, that flowing melody that screamed Beca. With a sigh, the redhead took a sip of her coke, so Beca was actually busy tonight, not 'busy'.

Mike picked up on the redhead's sigh and quirked an eyebrow. He followed her gaze to the DJ booth and instantly understood. He always thought that there was something there. Where there was exactly? He had no idea, somewhere way over Beca's head apparently. Beca had never showed so much emotion before, but hat night that she took down Rufus, she became this whole other person. Who knew her face could even show those emotions or that she even had them? "Johnny's given her some time off to recuperate," Mike nodded and stretched his stiff back, tonight was definitely one of the busier nights.

"I figured as much," Chloe murmured into her drink, watching as bubbles made their way to the top of the glass.

"Well since you're here, might as well enjoy it. Go dance a bit, loosen up! I'll look after you, don't worry. Becs would kill me if she found out that something happened to you under my watch," Mike gestured to the crowded dance floor. "You look like you could relax," he grinned, winking at her, "just go have some fun."

And that was how Chloe found herself on the dance floor, strobe lights and lasers flashing all around her. Maybe Mike was right, she'd just dance some of her worries away and then just go home. Nothing would happen, she'd only be here for an hour tops and plus if she ran into any trouble, Mike said he'd come and rescue her. What could be better? A fast song had just come on and Chloe was considering on heading back to the bar as the crowds swelled.

But before she could even take a step, someone shouted her name. Startled, Chloe turned, maybe Beca was at the club after all?

"Chloe!" A familiar set of green eyes and high cheekbones popped into her field of view.

"Tom!" Chloe exclaimed, surprised to see him here. Pink dusted his cheekbones, he had definitely had more than a few to drink. That and he looked a little bit unsteady on his feet, the only thing really keeping him up was the crowd pressed up against him.

"Dance with me," his words were a little bit slurred and despite everything, Chloe found herself in his arms. She had been with him long enough that it was easy to fall back into it. He was familiar and everything just seemed easy. But something was off.

She could feel his hands running down her sides, and she ignored it, figuring that he was drunk and his hands kept slipping. "Aren't you dating uhm, what's her name. Sarah! Aren't you dating Sarah?"

"Yeah," the reply was aloof, nonchalant, his hands were wandering now and Chloe brushed one of them off as casually as she could. Tom wasn't deterred though and his hand was back on her waist soon enough.

"So how come you're clubbing alone?" Chloe looked around uncomfortably as Tom pulled her against him. They had done this many times before, but this just wasn't right.

"Who cares," he whispered huskily in her ear, at the same time, his hands slid down and grabbed her ass.

Automatically, Chloe shoved him away from her as hard as he could. He stumbled into a few of the people around him and she backed away. "I care Tom!" she spat at him as she tried to back her way through the crowd. She turned on her heel and pushed her way back towards the bar, where was Mike? Before she could reach the bar however, she could feel hands on her hips, grabbing at her. "Get off of m-" she was cut off by the sudden appearance of Mike and the bouncer that had let her in through the door.

"Let go of her," Mike frowned at Tom who hastily retracted his hands at the sight of the surly man beside Mike. "Come on Red, your ride is here," Mike gestured towards the front door and lead her by the wrist through the crowd. Tom took a step towards Chloe but the movement of the bouncer who folded his arms across his chest made him stop suddenly in his tracks.

"My ride?" Chloe shouted over the din of the music, straining to make herself heard.

"Yeah! Your ride!" Mike yelled back over his shoulder and pushed past the crowd at the front doors and into the crisp night air.

Chloe sucked in a deep lungful of that fresh air, free from any of the varying scents of alcohol and cologne that clouded the insides of the club. "Becs! I got her!"

_"Go find whoever's working at the door during shift after this. Then go pick up the guy, and take Chloe to the front. I should be there by then. Oh and make sure you make the bouncer frisk the guy for anything illegal. Any extra manhandling is much appreciated."_

_"Got it boss." With that Mike hung up and Beca stared at the blank screen of her phone._

_"Sorry Jesse, I have to go." Beca gave him an apologetic look. She wiped her hands on her napkin and picked up her purse._

_"What? Beca! I heard that conversation! Its Chloe isn't it?" Beca didn't reply so Jesse took that as a yes and plowed on. "For Christ's sake Beca! Look at you! Chloe's old enough to handle herself. Every little thing and you go running to her! Its our one month anniversary! Doesn't that mean any thing to you?" Jesse had lowered his voice so that he wouldn't attract any attention. That was the thing, in Jesse's attempt to make things more romantic by giving them more privacy, there was also nobody around to stop this from escalating._

_"Yes it does Jesse! I dressed up tonight because you wanted me to. And I hate dressing up. Look, Chloe's my friend. Friends always help each other out. This won't take long alright? You're not even done eating. I'll be back in time for dessert, don't worry," before Jesse could even say anything else, Beca was gone. _

"Thanks Mike," Beca had pulled up right to the front of the club, her car parked right before the doors. She leaned against the side of the car, arms crossed, a smirk on her face. Chloe gasped, so this was what Mike had meant by her ride. Beca looked stunning in a tight, lacy oxblood dress. She had really toned down on the eyeliner as well, which placed further emphasis on how crystal blue her eyes were. "You don't know how to keep yourself out of trouble, Chlo." Beca straightened up slowly, never tearing her gaze away from Chloe's.

"I thought you'd be working tonight! You said that you were busy last time too..." Chloe trailed off, realizing how stupid her assumption actually was.

"Well, let's get you home," Beca smirked, taking a step forwards. She was cut off by the bouncer dropping a guy off unceremoniously on the sidewalk. The guy picked himself up groggily, struggling to stand on his own two feet. "Chloe!" the guy slurred, having finally managed to balance unsteadily on his feet.

"He's clean, no drugs," the bouncer reported to Mike, who nodded and the two of them disappeared back into the crowd.

"Wait, wait. This is the guy hitting on you in the club? This is the shower guy. Are you shitting me," Beca's smirk faded as she recognized the guy as the one that Chloe had been with when she had barged in on her shower. Rapidly, her expression changed to one of fury as her brain began connecting dots that didn't even exist.

"What? No-"

"You set this up so that I would come and save your sorry ass?" If there was one thing that Beca hated the most, it was being used. She absolutely hated being used, for anything or because of anything.

"Do you have any idea what I was in the middle of? Its my one month anniversary date with Jesse, Chloe! And I run out here thinking that you're in trouble but you're here with this guy?! I know we haven't hung out much this past week but if you want to hang out, then just say so! Don't set up all these stupid schemes behind my back! You know I'd come running out here every time! You're like the boy who cried wolf, Chloe! Did you set up all those other times that I 'saved' you too!?" Beca was screaming now. She had tried to hold all her emotions back like she always did. But her walls couldn't hold all that pent-up frustration, anger and sorrow that had been built up over decades.

"I'm not your fucking servant Chloe. I don't cater to your every whim. I don't come rescue you when you've had your fun with that guy you're making out with okay?! I'm not your stupid knight!" With tears streaming down her face, Beca scrambled back around her car and into it. Then she pulled out of the club as fast as she could, leaving a pain stricken Chloe behind.

* * *

"Hello? Jesse? I'm on my way back," Beca did her best to keep her voice even, driving as fast as she could without going over the speed limit. Tears still streamed down her face, she'd have to fix her make up before she returned to the restaurant.

"Forget about it Becs. I think that tonight was a major reality check for me. I always knew from the start that this wouldn't turn out well. You don't have to come back, I've paid the bill and everything. I really glad that we made it to a month Becs, I won't ever forget all the times that we spent together. But I think its best if we went our separate ways."

Beca paused, what was he saying. Was this Jesse even? The boy who was as obsessed with her as he was with movies? He was breaking up with her? No, this couldn't be happening. Desperate, she grabbed at the threads that were rapidly slipping out of her grasp. "What? No, Jesse. Don't. I'm sorry. I'm almost there. We can work this out. Couples always fight," she couldn't lose the one solid, predictable thing in her life. He kept her grounded.

"Becs. I don't think its a good idea. Its pretty telling that this relationship isn't going to work when you can go running off because Chloe's in trouble during something as important as our first month anniversary. I'm sorry. I just can't do this. I hope we can still be friends." With that, the call disconnected and Beca was left with silence, bleak and empty silence.

Her vision blurred with tears and Beca pulled over onto the side of the road. Tears fell from her eyes, hot and heavy. She hadn't cried in years, not since her father left. But now, she just broke, it was like all her emotions were rushing to the surface for all those times that she forced her emotions back down. She didn't know how to cope with everything she was feeling. She was just so angry, and this overwhelming sadness just washed over her. She was the epitome of a troubled soul; burdened with a heavy heart that threatened to tear itself apart at the stitches.

She needed air and hastened to get out of her car and into the refreshing night breeze. The road was largely deserted, trees that lined the road rustled gloomily in the winds dried her tears on her face but they just kept coming. Sobbing uncontrollably, she sat down on the hood of her car. The headlights cast twin beams of light that seemed unusually dim. Even the moon above her, shining weakly, was lackluster. The stars in the heavens were muted, as if one by one, all the sources of joy and light in her life turned their backs on her. She had nothing left.

A crumpled beer can lay at her feet, the once shiny aluminum now scratched and scuffed. In a fit of rage, Beca picked up the can and whipped it, as hard as she could at a tree next to her. The results were instantaneous. There was an explosion of pain ricocheting up Beca's right arm and traveled across her shoulder into her chest. With a gasp, Beca fell back on the hood of her car. Her vision went black as the hollow clatter of the beer can hitting the ground echoed faintly in her ears.


	8. A Tough Knight

**AN: So. I'm a terrible person for taking this long to update. Yes, I agree with you. I'm also a master at procrastinating, hence my terribleness. I have no excuse for my shameful behavior and love you all for putting up with my laziness. You are all wonderful people for leaving me reviews and reading this and liking this and reblogging this. So keep being wonderful you awesome fandom, cuz I wouldn't be doing this without your support. (I had to do a lot of digging to write this chapter. Not online research so much but quite a bit of mental juice was used. I tried to make it deep and meaningful, but I'm neither of those. So I gold star and "You Tried" myself.)**

* * *

Chloe woke up with a start, someone was knocking, no, banging on her door. Groggily, she stumbled out of bed, nearly falling flat on her face as her legs got tangled in her sheets. Hastily, she managed to free herself from them, leaving them in a trail on the floor. "Coming!" geez, what time was it? The weak morning sun was just peeking out over the horizon. The quad was slowly starting to fill with students, going about their daily morning routines.

She crossed the small sitting area in four lengthy strides. Her phone sat on the coffee table where she had left it to charge last night. Impulsively, Chloe lunged for it, nearly tripping over the couch. She ignored the impatient noises at the door and opted to check her phone. The screen lit up to show a disappointing blank, no missed calls, no new messages. Groaning, Chloe rolled over onto the couch, she really screwed things up this time.

_"Chloe?" Aubrey instantly knew something was wrong when Chloe came slinking back into the room without so much a word. For starters, it was far too early for her to be back. Second, there was no Beca tagging along. Third, if Chloe had gone out and hung out with Beca then she'd be sprawled on Aubrey's bed right now, talking Aubrey's ear off with how things had gone. But there was nothing, absolutely nothing._

_Chloe was curled up in the corner of her bed, clutching her phone, silently begging for Beca to call or even return one of her text messages. She had called nearly fifty times on the taxi ride back to Barden but each call had gone directly to voicemail. It pained her to hear Beca's voice, with its usual sarcastic bite, in the voicemail because she knew that was not how Beca was feeling right now. Back there, back at the club, when Beca was screaming at her, Chloe was taken back at the sheer force of emotion that Beca was displaying. Chloe had never seen anything like it from the brunette. Beca never got this worked up even when she was fighting with Aubrey. She was so stunned that she could only stand there, gaping at Beca, none of the words that she wanted to say, the explanations for everything, came out of her mouth. Chloe was never speechless, but here she was, struggling to find words._

_"Chloe?" Aubrey's voice repeated, she slid onto the bed next to Chloe and laid a comforting hand on Chloe's shoulder. "What happened?"_

_"Tom, he was at the club. And he was really drunk and oh Bree, I really screwed things up this time," Chloe threw her phone angrily onto the bed. If only she could find Beca and explain everything to her and tell her how sorry she was and then everything would be okay. But Beca was AWOL. And things weren't okay. _

_"Woah, woah there. Easy, slow down. I didn't hear a thing you said," Aubrey rubbed her best friend's back slowly, making soft circles._

_Chloe sucked in a shuddering breath, "I screwed up Bree, big time. Beca was actually busy tonight. It was her one month anniversary with Jesse. They were on a date. I bumped into Tom at the club and he was really drunk. And he was trying to grope me and I told him to back off 'cause he has a girlfriend and all you know? So I guess Mike saw, he's the bartender. Beca's friend. And he called Beca, and Beca ditched Jesse and shows up. And she was all dressed up and she was gorgeous. And then she sees Tom and thinks I set it up. That I've set up the last few times that she's had to come save my sorry ass." Chloe broke down into tears again, burying her face in Aubrey's shoulder._

_There was a long silence as it took a moment for Aubrey to take everything in. "Well," she finally began. "Let me ask you this; why are you so fixated on her?The old Chloe Beale I knew never had anybody capture her attention for more than two weeks. This obsession has been going on for months."_

_"What -hic- obsession?" _

_Aubrey patted Chloe's back consolingly, "Don't think I didn't notice. You light up like a firework every time Beca's near, your top 25 most played songs are all Beca's mixes, you're on her side more than you're on my side, you help her with __choreo, homework, papers, whatever. You talk about her in your sleep. Face it Chloe, I think its a little farther than an obsession at this point."_

_"I do not talk about her in my sleep. Do I?" Chloe gasped, mortified. Aubrey never made any mention that she sleep talked before, nobody did. She was so embarrassed now._

_Aubrey nodded innocently, "You totes do Chlo. This whole Beca thing, you have to face it. You have to decide where you stand, or you'll always be this confused little girl around Beca. You want to do something, but you can't. You have to figure yourself out. What's your relationship with Beca, Chloe."_

_Chloe stared at Aubrey, chewing her lip, pondering her best friend's wise words. She knew the answer already and she didn't have to look far. It had always been screaming at her, but she chose to ignore it, she kept telling herself that it just wasn't possible. "I love her, Aubrey. I'm in love with her. This is so wrong, I shouldn't. There's no way, Beca has Jesse."_

_Aubrey smiled warmly at her best friend, she knew Chloe's sexual preferences. The redhead was really open about everything and while both of them experimented with girls, only Chloe really stuck with it. If you spent enough time with her, it wasn't hard to figure out that Chloe was openly bi, it fit her personality, so it wasn't really a stretch. "You're so dense Chloe. You and Beca. I don't think Jesse will be a problem. You need to confront her."_

_"What? Confront Beca? What are you talking about?"_

_"Now you have to understand, Beca's... fragile," Aubrey chose her words carefully, Beca was always a difficult topic to talk about. "She's troubled. You know beneath all that sarcastic, alt girl, DJ, walls that she built, is this insecure, emotionally unstable, little girl. Sure she'll bite your head off with that sarcasm every single time, but you know she can break. Keeping everything a secret from her and having her find out later is worse than just telling her and dealing with it right there. You have to be upfront with her because that means at least you're willing to talk to her, to tell her to her face, that you can face her. She's prepared for something like that, for face to face confrontation thats where her thickest walls are. You can't go sneaking around behind her back, keeping secrets like a coward, she'll take that hit the hardest."_

_"You also have to realize that you're dangerous to her, Chlo," at this Chloe's head shot up. Two questioning sapphire orbs stared up at Aubrey, brimming with tears. Before Chloe could speak though Aubrey plowed on. "Look. You have absolutely no sense of personal boundaries. Remember how you met me? You picked the lock to my dorm room because I was singing your favourite song." _

_Chloe had to crack a small smile at this __memory. She remembered that day, she was just a freshman, just finished unpacking all her things and was wandering up and down the halls, just exploring. Just when she thought she had enough for the day, she hears this voice. _

_"You phased right through Beca's walls just like through everyone else's. I don't think Beca's used to anything like that. You have to understand. Do what you need to but give her space, give her time. Not everyone's like me, who'll accept you like right away. Just take things easy with Beca. You can't save every broken case out there Chloe. You've done your best, but Beca needs to help herself," Aubrey murmured. "...Why don't you go to bed, we'll find her tomorrow morning..."_

Another fit of banging on the door roused Chloe from her memories and she leapt to her feet. "Coming!" she had barely opened the when the figure shouldered past it and pinned her to the wall with one arm. It took Chloe a moment to recognize the figure, dressed in a leather jacket and heavy eyeliner. She almost looked like Beca, almost, the presence of a set of mesmerizing monochromatic eyes distinguished her right away. "You're Tat," Chloe breathed out, what was this woman doing here._  
_

"Ha! Good, you know who I am. Saves me the need of introducing myself. I can jump straight to the point." Tat released Chloe and idly sat down on the couch, examining her nails without another glance at the redhead. A duffel bag and a satchel sat in a pile next to her feet.

"You- Beca. Where's Beca-" Tat cut Chloe off with a sharp look.

"No. I am here to talk, you are going to listen to me," Tat gestured at the seat across from her. "Sit, don't say a word until I tell you to." There was a drawn out silence as Tat pursed her lips, gathering her thoughts. "Look, point is. Beca is extremely brittle. Your little stunt last night pretty much broke her. I don't know what your deal is but whatever it is, you need to stop. You need to leave Beca alone. Do you have any idea the lengths that Beca went to for you? You just don't seem to get it. I've seen Beca around all kinds of people at the club and nobody could ever get a reaction out of her like you do. You just waltz into a room and she lights up. A guy tried to spike your drink and she goes Rambo on his ass. You have no idea how much you meant to her."

Chloe opened her mouth to interrupt Tat but a sharp glare from one ice blue and one emerald-green eye cut her off. "You will let me finish. Go apologize to Beca and then drop out of her life if you know what's good for you. Actually, don't even go see her, write her a note and I'll hand it to her. It'll be better for both of you. She probably won't want to see you. Poor kid, didn't deserve to be double teamed out of nowhere like that. First you, then Jesse, did you guys set that up too?." Tat squinted suspiciously at her as she dug through her black bag, searching for something, a pen.

Sensing that Tat had finished her rant, Chloe plowed forwards, "What happened to Beca? What do you mean double teamed? What did Jesse do? I swear whatever happened, I had no idea! I need to talk to her! It's all a misunderstanding! You don't understand. I didn't set Beca up! I didn't set up anything! I had no idea Tom was at the club. I went because I only thought that Beca would be there! You have to let me see her and explain it to her." With each sentence, Chloe's voice got higher and higher, her entire body was tense with emotion.

"Woah, woah there. Slow down there Red. You're telling me that you didn't set Beca up to go and rescue you from Tom. That Tom just happened to be there?" Tat narrowed her eyes at her, gears turning furiously in her head. "Ah shit, well if you're telling the truth then... Beca didn't let you explain did she. Always jumping to the worst conclusions. Irrational little thing... That's how Beca works. Her first response is to jump to the worst conclusion and then she'll respond accordingly. She thinks if she prepares for the worst situation then that situation won't be as bad. Then if the situation isn't actually as bad as she thought but she reacted as if it was, then it'll only get better from there. Twisted logic huh? Beca's last line of defense, hit rock bottom voluntarily so that there's nowhere to look afterwards but up."

Pieces were slowly falling into place, the mysterious figure that was Beca Mitchell maybe wasn't all that mysterious after all, maybe just misunderstood. Chloe may not understand Beca as well as she thought, the past year that they had spent together had really shed some light on Beca's unknown and haunted past. "So, what about Jesse? What happened?"

Tat pursed her lips, trying to figure out how to phrase her next words. Chloe was fairly emotional at this point, and if her and Beca's relationship was a two-way street then she would be as protective of Beca as Beca was of her. Tat definitely needed to be careful. The last thing she needed was for Chloe to go after Jesse. "Well, what I gathered was that after Beca left you, Jesse rang her and they broke up over the pho-"

"He what?!" Whelp, that started out well.

"Will you just let me finish!" Tat growled, glaring daggers at the worked up redhead. Abashedly, Chloe fell silent again, allowing Tat to regather her thoughts yet again. "Beca told me it was a mutual thing, but I had a feeling that Beca was hiding something. You know Beca, so Too's going to have a chat with Jesse. To make sure we've covered all our bases." Tat grinned in a most animalistic way that made shivers run down Chloe's back. Then her expression turned serious again, "Listen, Beca's old man want me to pop by and grab Beca an overnight bag. And then drop it of-"

"An overnight bag? Why would Dr. Mitchell want you to get Beca an overnight bag?"

"What is with you and interrupting me? Goodness. I can see why Beca's so into you," Tat quipped with a smirk. Chloe stared at her for a moment, her mouth gaping like a fish's out of water. "And she's definitely not the only dense one here," Tat teased and got up, slinging her bag over her shoulder and hefting the duffel bag in the other hand.

"What? What are you talking about? Are you going to drop off the bag to Beca right now?" Chloe hastily scrambled to her feet, trying her best to fight the rising blush on her face.

"Yeah, I'm gonna swing by the hospital before I head home to slee-"

"Hospital!?"

* * *

"Dad, I'm fine really. It's just a dislocated shoulder," Beca grumbled, swatting his hovering hand away.

"A dislocated shoulder that wasn't really healed to start with," her father scowled. He had received the call in the middle of the night with an unfamiliar voice on the other end. It was female that was for sure, it was out of breath and rather frantic. The unknown voice then proceeded to give him directions to St. Basil's Hospital and to room 312.

Beca returned the scowl with the same force and folded her arms reflexively, bringing a wince to her face- ruining the whole tough image she was aiming for. Her dad's hand was also back, stroking her back and bringing a glass of water to her lips. Beca took a few sips of water and leaned back heavily onto her pillows. "You can't still be angry that I called Tat instead of you."

Dr. Mitchell gave Beca this half strangled look that made her groan, "You have no idea how it feels to get a call in the middle of the night telling you that your daughter is in the hospital. And I don't hear from you, I don't hear from the doctor or a nurse but its one of your friends. I think I'm insulted that you called your friends before you called me when you were in trouble, Beca."

"Dad, I had Tat on speed dial for work. It was the most convenient thing alright?" Beca grumbled, squirming around in her bed, trying to get comfortable.

"Alright, alright. You're just like your mother. Stubborn. Here, eat your breakfast," he pushed the hospital tray towards her and placed the fork in her hand. Still grumbling, Beca poked at the pile of scrambled eggs moodily. She wasn't in the mood to do anything, much less eat. While she was considerably calmer since last night, her insides were still in turmoil.

"You okay there kiddo?" Dr. Mitchell drew up the plastic chair up to her bedside and sank down into it. He did relieve Tat's shoulder from Beca's steady gush of tears and was also there when the tears turned to jumbled words and blubbering. While he only caught bits and pieces of Beca's sobbing, he managed to piece everything together for himself, he wasn't an English professor for nothing. He'd never seen Beca so heartbroken before, actually he'd never seen Beca so anything before. Other than anger and irritation, Beca hadn't displayed any other emotion in his presence before. Well, not since she was a child and the divorce. He was almost grateful to see that Beca was still human under all those layers of sarcasm and well, so called badassery.

"Fine," Beca mumbled, she hadn't felt anything even remotely close to what she was feeling right now since the day that her mom and dad split up. But then again, she hadn't put herself out there since that day either. Maybe she should've stuck with her original plan, stay out of everybody's business, get through her first and probably her last, year of college and then just go to LA. But then you wouldn't have joined the Bellas, met Cynthia Rose, Lilly, Stacie, Denise, Ashley, Jessica, Aubrey and Chloe, a little voice in her head reminded her. You would miss all of them, even Aubrey.

"Mhmm," her dad murmured, he knew how far he could push Beca. Today just didn't seem like the day to try her boundaries. The two of them fell into a relatively comfortable silence, Dr. Mitchell sinking deeper down into his chair with exhaustion. He had been up all night fretting over his daughter, putting up with her various emotional phases as the night had gone on. Beca watched her dad halfheartedly, she had told him to go home several times over the course of that night but he had blatantly refused, surviving on countless cups of coffee.

She knew that she should send him home, but knowing her father, he would refuse and go out and get another cup of coffee to add to the growing collection in the trash can. That and he looked so peaceful, he was pretty much asleep anyways, she'd let him catch a few z's before a nurse came in and woke him up. However, a sharp rap on the door made Dr. Mitchell shoot up with a start. The door swung open silently and Tat poked her head in, catching Beca's heated glare for waking her dad, she offered a sheepish smile and her overnight bag.

Seeing the other DJ, Dr. Mitchell got up and went to the door. He was tired, Beca could tell, his posture was off, slumping a little bit, and he was schlepping to the door. Beca was always used to seeing the tall, proud professor strutting around on campus, she couldn't remember the last time that her father seemed so human. Beca glanced out the window and into the hallway and immediately wished she hadn't.

A set of the most magnificent royal blue eyes rimmed with a pale red that made the stunning shades of sapphire stand out more. The instant Beca's own pale blue orbs met those, she was hypnotized. There was nothing that she could do to tear her eyes away and Beca could feel her insides turning and twisting in an uncomfortable yet pleasant way. "Oh, Dr. Mitchell. Let's go get a coffee. My treat, I hear the café makes a wicked espresso," Tat dropped the duffel bag near the door with a smirk and practically towed the elder Mitchell down the hallway.

Chloe stood at the window for a moment longer, her gaze seemingly boring holes into Beca's very soul itself. Beca's expression was unreadable and Chloe wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand, she wanted Beca to yell and to scream and to blame her for everything. Something, anything that would mean Beca would at least acknowledge or speak to her. On the other hand, Chloe wasn't sure that she could handle the full force of Beca's fury again, especially after Beca had been thinking and simmering for a while, that might make last time look like a temper tantrum. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and stepped through the doorway.

Beca's eyes followed her form as she moved past the window and right into her room. There was nowhere to hide, and Beca swallowed the lump in her throat, maybe she'd take the risk. "Hi," her voice was barely audible, but she managed to keep up the resolve to continue to maintain eye contact.

That one word, that simple greeting, spoken in a whisper so soft and gentle was all it took for Chloe's calm façade to break, shattering into thousands of sobbing pieces. Chloe thought she could handle this, handle seeing Beca, handle the screaming, the yelling, the anger. But the calmed quiescence in Beca's voice, that was something that Chloe's steeled resolve was unprepared for. A weak breeze somehow managed to tear down stone walls after all. "I'm so sorry, Beca, I really didn't mean to hurt you, I had no idea Tom was going to be there, I swear. I just wanted to see you, last time you said you were busy, you were DJing, so I figured..." Chloe trailed off as a fresh wave of sobs wracked her body. She pressed her tearstained face against the thin hospital sheets.

Taken back, Beca's jaw hung open a little. She was seriously at a loss of words as the Chloe lay there, half sprawled across her bed, crying her eyes out. Awkwardly, Beca reached out with a trembling hand and patted the mass of wild flames, almost afraid that she would be burned, again. "Chloe, you just like word puked on me. I cannot understand a single thing you said," Beca said slowly, her mind trying to process that mass jumble of words.

Chloe raised her head a little, her eyes barely peeking over the crest of Beca's covered knee. She had half expected Beca to kick her away, the soothing pressure on her head was surprising yet comforting at the same time. While Beca's didn't seem angry, her response was a typical, snarky, slightly humorous Beca response, so it didn't give away a lot on Beca's mindset. "Last night, it wasn't supposed to be like that. I didn't know Tom was going to be there. We were fighting because Tom had a girlfriend and he was drunk and he was hitting on me. I promise, Beca, I didn't know anything about it. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to see you. I haven't seen you all week. And well, I kind of missed you," Chloe's voice dropped several decibels near the end of her little speech.

Beca sighed, now she felt terrible, that twisting in her gut was rapidly turning into that sinking feeling of guilt. She could never stay angered at Chloe for long, no matter what. She knew that she was overly harsh last night, that she shouldn't have lashed out at Chloe, she shouldn't have jumped to conclusions, there was a lot that she shouldn't have done. "I'm sorry too Chlo, I jumped to the worst conclusion without letting you explain anything. You have to understand... I- it's what I do. I'm screwed up that way," Beca sighed and looked down at her lap. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, rapidly threatening to spill over.

"I know. I know. I understand. I had a long talk with Tat. She's very demanding," Chloe dried her eyes with the sleeves of her sweatshirt.

At this Beca had to chuckle, wiping her eyes as well, Tat could be very forceful when she wanted to. "I think that she was just trying to look out for me. Tat and Too finally got out of the baby role in the DJ family when I showed up, so they like to coddle me," Beca had experienced her fair share of brotherly and sisterly headlocks and noogies from the majority of the DJs in the community.

Chloe looked at Beca with an unreadable expression, "Its great, that you're making friends."

"Uh, yeah," Beca nodded, "I don't think I had much of a choice." She chuckled drily, she had experienced Tat and Too's demanding nature first hand.

"So... I'm sorry about Jesse, Beca. I didn't mean for you two to break up," Chloe might as well get this out of the way since she seemed to be on some sort of an apologizing roll here.

Beca stared out the window for a moment, this was a hill she'd have to get over at some point. Even if Jesse and her weren't made for each other and she knew, deep down, that their relationship wasn't going to work, it still hurt. Less so than last night, she had some what come to terms with the break up, there was still a slight twinge. "It was mutual," Beca finally replied. "It wasn't ever meant to be. This break up was inevitable. Jesse told me that it was telling when I could run out on our first month anniversary to save you," Beca didn't know why she was confessing this to Chloe of all people, but it was just so natural, these words poured forth from her mouth like water breaking through a dam, free at last. It was like a giant weight had been lifted off her chest, who knew that admitting it out loud and to Chloe would bring so much relief. Chloe reached out with a shaking hand, half expecting Beca to pull away. But Beca didn't, why, neither would ever really figure out but Beca sat there, still as a statue as Chloe's fingertips came into contact with her cheek. Her touch was delicate, tender, like the wings of a butterfly. Her fingers danced across her cheek, gingerly wiping tears that Beca didn't even realize had fallen, away in a most rhythmic fashion.

"You know I never would've wanted you to do that. I'm a big girl Becs, I can handle myself. Put yourself first Beca," Chloe sighed. Oh Beca, how clueless and adorable could she be. Chloe would never force her to do something, she would never ask her to do something if she knew Beca would have to pay a price for it.

"I seem to remember differently Chlo. You're a real magnet for trouble," Beca teased lightheartedly, but the small grin that managed to creep its way onto Beca's face quickly faded. A sombre look overcame the DJ's face, "I've put myself first all my life Chloe. I thought it was time to change that. I could be that someone I've always dreamt of. That kind, caring, selfless person."

"You are that person, Beca." They stared at each other for a minute, neither knowing what more to say, nor wanting to be the one to break the silence that now reigned in the room.

They were interrupted by the arrival of a nurse and a doctor, followed quickly by her father but no Tat. He had obviously been waiting outside of the room, not really wanting to interrupt the intimate moment between the two girls. Surprised, Chloe hurriedly leapt to her feet and wiped her face, trying to look at least somewhat presentable. "Ms. Mitchell? Results from your shoulder x-rays and testing are in. Given your medical history, I'm surprised this hasn't appeared sooner. But its nothing we can't fix," the doctor flipped through Beca's medical chart, noting things down as the nurse bustled around the room, checking the various pieces of equipment. "You have shoulder instability, caused by the repetitive dislocation of your shoulder," Chloe turned to look at Beca with a partially concerned and partially troubled look on her face. She knew what shoulder instability was, just how many times had Beca dislocated her shoulder previous to this time.

"What does this mean doc? What treatment does she need?" Dr. Mitchell ran a hand through his hair tiredly. He had his fair share of supervising Beca's hospital field trips in the past. This was nothing new.

"There's a build up of scar tissue in her right shoulder joint. This scar tissue in that joint is what makes it easier for her shoulder to dislocate in the future. Your bone no longer fit in the socket snugly because of the scar tissue. The easiest way to treat it is to simply surgically remove it," the doctor replied, replacing the clipboard to its proper position at the foot of the bed.

Beca's eyes widened at the doctors words, "Surgery?" she choked out.

"Yes, Ms. Mitchell. Surgery. Is there a problem?" the doctor shot her a questioning look.

"Uh, no, no. I think she's just a little tired, and a little stunned. You know, surgery and dislocated shoulder. Not exactly what one would expect. Its fine," Dr. Mitchell jumped in with surprising agility for someone who hadn't gotten any sleep in the past 24 hours.

"Very well, we'll leave Ms. Mitchell to get some rest. Nurse Jones will take you to fill out the necessary paperwork," with that, the doctor disappeared back out into the hallway, his white jacket flapping in the sterile air-conditioned breeze. The nurse and Beca's father followed shortly, leaving the girls by themselves in the room again.

Chloe felt Beca's hands scrambling on her arm and a sharp tug that made her tumble back onto the bed. "Oof, Beca!" Chloe cried out, surprised as she was practically forced to sit on the bed. Upon seeing the terror in Beca's eyes, Chloe was all serious. "Beca? Honey, what's wrong. It's just some surgery, it's a common procedure, very simple. It's no big deal," Chloe laid a reassuring hand on Beca's, which was still tightly wrapped around her wrist.

"You don't understand. Surgery! Just no, I don't want surdocpokepointbleh!" Beca gave up and hid her face in her hands.

"Good. But words, Beca. Use your words. Speak English," Chloe gently pried Beca's hands away from her face and held them in her own. "Try again, I'm here," Chloe nodded encouragingly.

"I don't want surgery," Beca mumbled, ashamed at her own antics.

"Okay... why? It's a little procedure. There's virtually no risk to this, its your shoulder, not your heart," Chloe pressed gently, she really didn't understand what Beca was going on about.

"Virtually no risk. You said it yourself. Virtually. That means there's still a risk, Chloe!" Beca pulled her hands out from Chloe's grip and buried her face in them again.

"Beca. People go through this everyday and they come out the other end better. It's what surgery is for, to make you better," Chloe sighed exasperatedly. She threw an arm around the younger girl's shoulder and pulled her in for a side hug. There was a pause, "It's not the risk that bothers you is it?" Beca peered up at Chloe, her expression was questioning, but Chloe could read her eyes, begging, _"Go on. Tell me what you think. Please. I'm not going to tell you, you know that. Start, and I'll finish."_


	9. The Past Knight

_**AN: **Erm. So I'm just gonna nonchalantly update this and hope nobody is too superduper mad with me. I'm reaaaalllllly sorry about the extremely unexpected and long hiatus. It kinda took me by surprise too. I've been writing this chapter like sentences at a time. And I guess my brain decided that I should probably put school as my number one priority and pass my exams. So that's why I was gone so long, I did not die from all these Bechloe feels or Sendrick moments all over instagram, as someone wondered. So yeah. But thank you for all your continued support during my period of absence, all those PM's and reviews have really kept me going. Yep. Thanks y'all :D _

* * *

_"Go on. Tell me what you think. Please. I'm not going to tell you, you know that. Start, and I'll finish."_

"Something happened when you were little, maybe not that little. But you were younger," Chloe began, she didn't really know what she was doing but Beca hadn't interrupted her yet, so she figured that she'd just run with it. Beca seemed to be less hysterical the more that she spoke anyways, so at least she was doing something. "Maybe your parents haven't split up yet," Chloe was pulling from every single bit of memory that she had of Beca. Anything that Beca might've said before, something she hinted at, some body language. It wasn't easy trying to construct some semblance of a story from a million fragments of facts, truths, half-truths and lies.

Beca had said something about spending some time on the streets, with her sister. She'd picked up some street smarts and whatnot there. "But you were probably on the streets. Might not've been for a long time yet. You might've been not as careful as you should've been on the street." Uhm, surgery scared her, something about the risks that were involved, even for something minor. So something must have gone south. Somebody probably died on the operating table, by the looks of how it affect Beca, how deeply disturbed she was by it, probably someone close to her. The only person that Beca ever mentioned from her past other than her parents, was her sister. But it couldn't be her, because Beca always referred to her in the present tense.

"There was an accident maybe, and someone you knew. A close friend perhaps, got hurt. But it was no big deal, just a little operation right?" Chloe cradled Beca's trembling form against her own, trying to soothe the younger woman. Beca's head fit perfectly in the crook of Chloe's neck and she buried her face in Chloe's sweatshirt. "But something went wrong in the operation, what was supposed to be a cakewalk got complicated and your friend lost their life on the operating table," Beca let out a strangled cry and Chloe only patted her back gently. "There there Beca, it's all okay. Everything will be fine."

"His name was Tobias. We all called him Tobi. He was my sister's boyfriend, I'd known him since god knows when. He used to babysit me with my sister when I was little and when the parents were out and about. He understood what we were going through, he grew up in a broken home too, he was there for us. When he had nowhere to go, we took him in, hid him from my parents in the back of my closet, fed him. And he'd do the same for me and my sister when we had no place." Beca took a shuddering breath, the air seemed so cold, so thin, she couldn't get enough of it. She felt exhausted, this sharing business was draining both emotionally and physically. She had never told anybody this story before, her parents didn't know of it. Not the entire story anyway.

"But eventually there came a time that there was nowhere to go for all of us and that's when we hit the streets. I was 12, my sister and Tobi, she was 18 and he was 19. We spent about two years on the streets, it was an on and off kind of thing. Maybe we'd be out for a week, maybe two, but it was never long. One of my parents' friend was a cop, Captain Griegson. When me and my sister first ran off, my parents went to him. It took him a couple of days to track us down and send us home. But after that, it was kind of a thing. I think the Captain used us as a training exercise for rookie policemen because it seemed every other cop in the city was looking for us whenever we ran off," Beca curled up into Chloe's side, trying to get comfortable.

It was still pretty early, the sun had long ago risen but there was a relatively thick cloud cover. Usually Beca would have grimaced at the not so wonderful weather, but today, the heavy clouds that blocked out the sunlight made it easier for Beca to snuggle down into the uncomfortable hospital beds. The gloomy weather would've made it easier for her to actually get some rest. But her mind was running at warp speed, she wasn't going to actually sleeping anytime soon, but the low levels of light and the extra warmth kindly provided to her by Chloe was soothing.

Protectively, Chloe threw the thin hospital blanket over Beca's trembling form and pressed her lips into those chocolate tresses. She didn't say anything, didn't make any gesture for Beca to continue, didn't push. They just sat there for a moment, in complete silence, the sounds emitting from the hallway and the rest of the hospital were completely drowned out by each other's presence.

"I remember my last time on the streets, I would've been 14, turning 15 in just a week. My sister was 20 and Tobi was 21. We had been hiding from the cops for about a week now and we were staying in this abandoned place. We thought we were lucky to find a place that we could hide for a while. We never planned to stay for more than a night, but the police never came by, so we stayed there," Beca's voice came out muffled, she was trying fight the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her completely. These memories brought back a lot of emotion, good and bad, largely unwanted.

"It turns out we weren't so lucky," Beca chuckled darkly, "the police were actually really weary of the place, that's why they never came inside. The building we were in was one of the warehouses that one of the gangs ran in. It was empty at the time we moved in because they had cleaned out their stash and were waiting a fresh shipment of drugs. It was far too late by the time we realized this. No gang members noticed us, just three kids in the rafters, because the arrival of a rival gang preoccupied them. We were smack dab in the middle of a turf war. Were were all terrified, there were gunshots everywhere, yelling, screaming, blood."

Beca swallowed, her tongue felt heavy and her voice felt thick. "Tobi threw himself over me, using his own body as a shield. The cops showed up quickly after that. And Tobi, he got shot. He took a bullet intended for me and we all went to the hospital in an ambulance. I remember being terrified, I hated hospitals, and I still do, but Tobi was bleeding and he needed help so I went with him. But he came out fine. The bullet just clipped his shoulder, the bleeding stopped on the way to the hospital and Tobi was fine. He stayed in the hospital for a couple of days, recovering, the bullet still in his shoulder. People had that all the time, where they just leave the bullet in. But the doctors decided to remove it and so Tobi was prepped for the surgery. I still remember that morning, we were sitting there in his room, me, my sister and him, watching a rerun of Friends, laughing, eating Tobi's tray of waffles. He was so healthy, so bright even with the bullet in him, I thought he was definitely going to be okay with the bullet out."

At last, Beca broke down into a sob, burying her face into Chloe's side, "But he wasn't okay! Nothing was! They were supposed to just remove the bullet! But the bullet nicked an artery or something on the way out and there was nothing that they could do! He would've been fine! If they had just left it!"

At last Chloe understood, she didn't know how exactly Beca was feeling, but she knew enough to sympathize, and empathize with her at least. "Shhh, Beca. i understand that surgery terrifies you because of Tobi's operation that went bad. But Beca, a removing a bullet and removing scar tissue are two different things. Who knows how long Tobi might've had with the bullet in him. He might've seemed healthy at first, but his condition would've deteriorated rapidly. The doctors did what they thought was best for him, just like they're doing now. Listen, do you trust me?"

There was no hesitation at all, which was highly unusual since, well, Beca Mitchell didn't trust anybody. "Of course."

"Then listen to me. You're going to need this surgery. If you don't get it, your arm will consistently pop out all the time. You won't be able to do anything Becs. You know how it feels to have your shoulder dislocated. It won't be fun. You'll always be in pain. I can't put up with you being in pain like that Becs, this surgery's the only way to fix this," Chloe pleaded, her piercing gaze boring holes into Beca's soul. "I want to tell you that you'll be fine Beca, I really do, and you probably will be, but you won't be the same, at least with surgery, you'll have a chance of being the old Beca Mitchell."

Chance. That one word. Seven little letters, something that Beca hadn't taken since she was a child. When her dad walked out on her and her mom, she decided that fate sucked, she was going to take everything into her own hands. She always took the safe routes, everything mapped out in her mind, leave nothing to chance. She wouldn't even take a chance on other people, how could she take a chance on herself for herself?

But there was something in Chloe's eyes that made her want to believe in herself, made her want to take this leap of faith, something told her that Chloe would be there to catch her if she fell. "You'll be here if I wake up?" she asked softly, her voice cracking.

"I'll be here when you wake up," Chloe promised, correcting Beca gently.

* * *

Warren Mitchell smiled at the sight of his daughter, curled up in Chloe's arms. He had filled out Beca's paperwork for the surgery with a heavy heart and was contemplating how he was going to convince the stubborn DJ to do it when he walked into the room. It was in situations like these that Warren was thankful for his quick instinct. The instant that he set foot in the room, he knew that he should not be there and swiveled abruptly, listening from outside of the room, back pressed against the wall.

Beca had never told that story, Tobi's death had changed her, more than the divorce ever did. There was nothing that she could ever really do when it came to the divorce, but Tobi's death, she felt at fault for it and she never really got over it. To hear her tell someone that story was a big shock. Warren watched the pair for a moment longer, the way that Chloe soothed the agitated brunette reflected the intensity of her affection and care. He'd always suspected something was going on between them, though he also suspected neither of them quite realized it yet.

Despite what Beca thought, Warren did look out for his daughter, in every way that he could. He was around when she thought nobody was around, watching her from his office balcony that overlooked the quad, have a certain well muscled radio station manager who happened to need some extra credit in a certain English class to send an old drinking buddy from Warren's college days a couple of USB's with some initials scrawled on them. He was trying his best to make up for Beca's screwed up childhood and though he knew that everything that he could do would never be enough, he would damn well try. He had already screwed up with one child, he'd be damned if he did it a second time too.

Still smiling, Warren headed for the parking lot. He needed some sleep, he'd text Beca letting her know that he'd be back later, maybe with her favourite lunch from the diner on campus so she wouldn't have to eat the oh so dreaded hospital food. Maybe a phone call or two wouldn't hurt, there was a high probability that he could help extend the deadline on a few of Chloe's final papers. He wasn't about to ruin this moment for his daughter, she'd never forgive him for it, and he wouldn't ever forgive himself for it either. Besides, Beca was opening up, and she was in good hands, or well, arms.

* * *

Chloe sat in the waiting area outside of operating room number 3, her laptop sat beside her, untouched. She had told herself that she was going to finish that paper that was supposed to be due yesterday but her professor had discreetly handed her a sticky note the class before, telling her that she 'd been given a couple extra days extension. She was thankful for whatever had come upon her professor to give her an extension, though she had an inkling that the dark-haired, English professor sitting at the end of the row of chairs had something to do with it.

Speaking of which, Dr. Mitchell sat by himself, forehead creased, he appeared to be talking to someone in whispers at the end of the row of plastic seats. Whoever he was talking to was covered by his own frame. But Chloe could still see the hospital gown that dwarfed a pale and frail arm, perhaps just a passing by patient offering their condolences? Or one of his students, also hospitalized, just striking up a friendly conversation.

Whatever it was, the exit of a man dressed in scrubs from the operating room interrupted Chloe

* * *

Beca watched as what seemed to be a myriad of nurses and doctors scurried around her in the darkness, making last-minute preparations to this machine and that doohickey. One nurse wheeled up a tray of neatly organized like someone had OCD, polished to the point of insanity, gleaming, wickedly sharp, silver scalpels. The additional presence of several menacing looking forceps did not help the image at all.

Beca gulped nervously and tried to focus on something else, like the mix that she was working on, but the high-powered fluorescent lights that glared directly down at her gave her no choice but to cast her gaze to the side. Why did she agree to do this again?

"Miss Mitchell? We're going to put you under now. This mask is going to go over your moth and nose, just breathe normally and count backwards from twenty," one of the nurses slipped the mask gently over her face and Beca took a breath of the gas, which always seemed sickly sweet, despite supposedly tasteless.

"20, 19, 18..." Beca welcomed the feeling of her limbs growing sluggish, feeling like they were made of lead. "17, 16, 15..." her eyelids fluttered, there was a strong pull for them to fall shut and remain shut. At this point, sleep would be bliss for her, ever since she had told Chloe the story of Tobi, it was like someone had unleashed a demon within her mind.

It was as if all those memories of the streets had been locked away, secured, in a box, tucked away in some dark recess of her mind but when she told Chloe, that box seemed to have exploded, and those suppressed memories ran rampant inside her head, she couldn't get away from them. She hadn't gotten any sleep the past two nights, and she was beyond exhausted. Chloe had been by her bedside every moment that she didn't have class, putting up with her poor attempts at sleeping, which would involve her waking up every twenty minutes in cold sweat, shaking and whimpering, her memories burned into the back of her eyelids, on a never-ending loop.

"14, 13, 12..." by now Beca's eyelids had fastened shut and there was nothing that anybody could do to open them again. A peaceful darkness overtook her and the world went blank.

* * *

And then, she was running. A raggedy pair of sneakers slapped noisily against the flimsy metal steps. She could hear the gunshots, the bullets whizzing around her, past her, pinging off metal walls and railings, embedding themselves into empty wooden pallets and crates. There were voices, screaming, yelling, cries of pain and angry swears, but she didn't dare cry, she didn't dare draw attention to herself, she didn't know where her sister was or Tobi, but she didn't dare find out. All she wanted to do was to get out.

There were more footsteps, hurrying after her now. Someone called her name. She didn't dare pause and look back. She just kept running, across the metal catwalks. Below her, she could see the carnage, bodies everywhere, blood flowing in rivers that rapidly joined up and became an ocean of scarlet. There was an emergency exit on the far end of it. That was her way out, her saving grace and she blocked out the horrors below her and focused and the rectangle of solid steel with four angry red letters over it. She was so close, but whoever that was, hunting her down, was quickly closing the gap. Without any hesitation, she slammed into the door, ribs pressing down on the door handle and the door burst open.

She was free, flying out onto the rusty fire escape. But her freedom was cut short, there was an explosion of sound behind her, bouncing off of the metal walls, the metal floors and steps. The sound got stronger as it bounced and it overpowered her senses, stricken with fear, she came face to face with that dark figure. But he was gone, as quickly as she had appeared he was gone, replaced by the dull blue of a battered plaid shirt.

She fell, struggling and writhing in midair, tumbling down the steps, her face pressed against the fabric that smelled strongly of smoke, her body pulled secured against the lithe form of another. She felt herself turning in the air, her shoulder met the edge of a step with a sickening crack and she heard a guttural scream. Was she screaming? She could not tell, her vision had a strange, dark, red tint to and it terrified her. Finally, she rolled to a stop at the bottom of the fire escape, nearly plunging down the ladder but a hand grabbed her and prevented her from doing so.

Rivers of blood carved their way through the darkened skin of the hand, quickly pooling at the fingertips. A crumpled form cloaked in the worn plaid shirt lay before her, the hand lying lifelessly beside it. There was red everywhere, the toes of her sneakers were covered in a deep crimson, her face felt sticky and when she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, her hand came off red. "Tobi..." she heard herself whisper. Tobi, he had saved her life. She could save him, return the favour. Move, move, she begged her body, but she stood there stricken with fear at the gunshots. The walls around her glowed in short red and blue bursts.

Hands, more hands, they took a hold of her, and pulled her away from Tobi. Her mind was paralyzed, terrified but her body reacted instinctively, lashing out everything, her shoulder felt like someone had driven a broken bottle through it, but she didn't care, she had to get back to Tobi.

* * *

Chloe yawned and sleepily checked her phone: 9:56. She'd been sleeping in this armchair that she dragged in from the hall for a little over three hours since Beca had gotten out of surgery. Figures that the DJ was still out like a light, she was really small after all. Then Chloe heard the whimper and her head snapped up, eyes wide, trying to locate the source of the cry. "Becs?" there was no reply, the brunette hadn't woken up yet. Perhaps Chloe was just overworked and really tired and she was imagining thing- another whimper.

Instinctively, Chloe rushed to Beca's bedside. The younger woman was curled up on her side, clutching her shoulder, eyes screwed shut. Another whimper escaped her lips, her forehead creased in worry. The sight of this terrified, little girl, cowering beneath the thin bed sheets nearly broke Chloe's heart. Beca looked so vulnerable, so fragile, both things that you would never see in the ordinary Beca who would bite your head off with a sarcastic remark. But behind those walls hid a little girl trying her best to be brave, protecting herself from all the dangers of the outside world. But as life would have it, the real dangers were inside those walls, her own demons and ghosts, all inside her head, haunting her.

Gently, Chloe brushed a few stray strands of hair away that clung to Beca's sweat drenched face. "I've got you Beca, I've got you. Nothing can hurt you, it's all in your head." She cradled Beca's trembling form against her own, feeling Beca's heart hammer through the thin hospital gown. Softly, Chloe pressed her lips to Beca's temple, trying to still the younger woman. It was just something that really helped her calm down when she was little, her mother, in a similar position, rocking her gently on her lap, arms cradling her protectively, lips kissing her temple. She felt Beca relax into her arms, breathing rate getting lower, but there was also one more thing that really helped, one more trick up this ginger's sleeve: music.

_"A drop in the ocean, a change in the weather. I was praying that you and me might end up together. It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert, but I'm holding you closer than most, 'cause you are my, my heaven."_

* * *

She looked around her, confused. Those arms that were roughly grabbing at her, dragging her a moment ago now encircled her warmly in an embrace. There was just this feeling that she couldn't quite place, she felt warm and for the first time, in many, many years, she felt safe, like she belonged. The world faded around her as she leaned into this embrace, eyes closed, she was content. Then she heard the music, it was very subtle, weaving itself in and out of her thoughts.

Her brow furrowed, trying to concentrate on the melody and the lyrics, but the song wove in and out of her grasp. She heard it but it never quite reached her ears, surrounding her in this beautiful, complex web of something that she thought she knew so well.

With that, Beca's eyes snapped open. She was no longer at the warehouse, she was on her side, and her surroundings were dark. Her shoulder, it twinged, but nothing more. Her head rested against something warm, something that moved in a soothing, steady, rhythmical fashion. The rest of her body was curled up against something. Something that smelled faintly of cinnamon, and sugar, and spice, and everything that Beca knew was nice.

Whatever it was shifted and Beca let out a surprised squeak, one that she quickly stifled when she realized that the something was actually a someone. And if those bright blue orbs watching her concernedly said anything, the someone was Chloe.

"Becs! You're awake! I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" Chloe hastily scrambled to untangle herself from Beca. But as she was pulling away, a hand latched onto her own and Chloe looked up to meet a tired gaze.

"Stay," was the simple command, followed by a light tug. But that was all Chloe needed to tuck herself beside Beca again. For a moment, neither of them spoke, Chloe with her head tilted to the side as she watched Beca with an unreadable expression, her eyes still warm. "I haven't been sleeping well, I used to get this when I was younger too but I managed a lot of how screwed up I am with music and a side of therapy, I was never by myself either. Currently I don't have both, so I think I'm breaking down," Beca felt the need to explain even though no question was asked. Even though she had ended up skipping the vast majority of her therapy sessions, what she did learn from them were mildly useful, but lesbihonest here, it was the music that really helped. The presence of another human being also really helped, just someone to keep her rooted to reality.

"it's alright, Becs. I'll be here for whatever you need," Chloe took the smaller girl into her arms again, "Just try to sleep. Remember, nothing can hurt you in those dreams. They're just dreams. I'm right here with you the entire time. Remember that, I'm here for anything you need," Chloe's breath tickled Beca's skin, but in a pleasant way. Slowly, Beca closed her eyes and drifted away into a peaceful slumber for the first time in days, lulled to sleep by Chloe's presence, the beat of her heart, the rise and falls of her chest, the ghosting of her breath over her lips. Beca realized that maybe, Chloe was music.

* * *

"Beca, oh Beca. If you don't get up I'm gonna eat all your pancakes," Chloe sang in a cheery voice as she poured maple syrup over the stack of fluffy pancakes.

"Pancakes?" Beca cracked a single eye open suspiciously and blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to the bright sunshine streaming in through the window.

"Yes, and I will eat them. All of them," Chloe chirped innocently, a fork in hand, hovering over the food.

"No! They're mine!" Beca was up instantly, blanket flying off to the side. Beca adored pancakes, it was probably the one thing that she retained from her childhood that wasn't absolutely horrible. Chloe chuckled and wheeled the table closer to the brunette so she could eat. "Can we watch cartoons?" Beca asked, a forkful of syrup drenched pancakes halfway to her mouth.

"Yes sweetie, we can," Chloe replied in her best over the top, super exaggerated, motherly voice and turned on the tv. It took a moment of flicking through the channels before she finally located the cartoons.

"No! Dude! Don't eat Marceline's fries! Noooo! She's gonna hate you!" Chloe watched on in amusement as Beca ate her breakfast and watched the cartoon with all the enthusiasm of a five-year old.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Chloe sighed and handed Beca a napkin. Beca grinned sheepishly and wiped her mouth before devouring the rest of her breakfast. She didn't realize just how hungry she actually was until that first bite of food. Her recent insomnia had also been coupled with a loss of appetite. But now her appetite returned with a vigor and Beca was more than happy to comply. "How's the shoulder?" Chloe asked once Beca had swallowed her giant gite of food.

"It... doesn't really hurt?" Beca looked at Chloe, a puzzled expression on her face. Her shoulder had been wrapped up tightly in gauze and bandages so she couldn't actually see the incision the surgeons made but she couldn't really feel it either. It was just a dull throbbing at the very back of her mind, like a weak headache. The pain wasn't enough to really affect her from doing everyday things, but it was just there, like a constant reminder that she had surgery and she should be careful with the joint.

"Well you were on anesthetics and probably some kind of painkillers, so they probably haven't worn off yet. You'll probably feel it more once they actually wear off," Chloe deduced, Beca's tiny stature probably also had something to do with it, but she'd save that joke for later.

Shrugging, Beca drained her plastic container of orange juice and settled back down on her pillows contentedly. That's when she realized that Chloe had been here all night. "Well, you kept your promise," Beca smirked at Chloe, she was the first person that she saw when she woke up.

"My promise...?" Chloe asked confusedly. What was Beca talking about, had the anesthetic not worn off yet and Beca was still all drugged up?

"Yeah, that you'd be here when I woke up," oh, that promise. "And you're here. And you were here all night. Which you totally didn't have to do that. But I'm still grateful that you did," Beca waggled her finger at Chloe when Chloe opened her mouth to interrupt. "But seriously dude, you should go home and get some proper sleep and stuff. As important as I am, I don't wanna take over your life completely," Beca joked, shooting Chloe a wink.

"Don't worry bout it, I went home and showered and changed when you were still out like a light. Your dad was here a while ago and watched over you while I was out," Chloe replied nonchalantly.

Beca feigned shock, "But Miss Beale, what if I had woken up and you weren't there? You would've broken your promise!"

"Beca, you woke up last night. You talked to me. I was the first person you saw when you first woke up," Chloe sighed, drumming her fingers on the arm of her borrowed arm-chair.

"Oh yeah. Right. Okay, you're off the hook," Beca crossed her arms and gave her a knowing smirk.

"Why don't you go brush your teeth and we'll go take a walk around the courtyard or something since it's actually nice out for a change," Chloe suggested, her eyes settling on the birds streaming across the window, the wind ruffling the leaves of the tress, anything to get out of this hospital room really.

"Yes ma'am," Beca replied cheekily and gave her a mock salute. Chloe's only response was to throw Beca's toiletries bag at her.

* * *

Chloe was right, it was nice out, in fact it was gorgeous. The weak morning sun provided warmth and cast soft rays of light everywhere. Birds fluttered from tree to tree, chirping in wondrous harmony. A gentle breeze ruffled Beca's hair as she strolled through the grassy courtyard which smelled faintly of rain and freshly cut grass. Despite her protests, Chloe had a strong arm around her shoulders, steadying her as they made their way down the neatly kept path.

"I've missed nature. Ever since the treehouse incident, I stayed inside. Then we moved into an apartment, away from the suburbs and the only forest I knew was the concrete jungle of the city. I miss this," That was partially the reason why she enjoyed sitting under the giant tree in the quad so much on campus. Her one little connection with nature, regardless of how small it actually was.

"I get that too sometimes. There's like this secret garden at Barden that I hang out at sometimes, betcha didn't know that huh Ms. Mitchell?" Chloe teased, nudging Beca with her elbow. "Maybe I'll show it to you sometime," Chloe offered, smirking.

"I'm holding you to that Ms. Beale," Beca replied in the same tone, "And since when do you smirk?" the only response Beca got was a smirk. The scenery had changed during their short walk across the courtyard, they were surrounded by trees with pale green leaves and white and rose-coloured blossoms. "Apple trees!" Beca gasped. The delicate scent of apple blossoms wafted across the path as a breeze rustled the tree leaves gently.

"You like them?" Chloe brushed a strand of hair, that had blown out of place, out of her face. She was still learning new things about this mysterious DJ everyday.

"We had a couple in our backyard when I was little," Beca admitted, "when it was really hot out, my sister and I would sit underneath them, in the shade and eat apples." Since then, Beca had developed an unexplainable fondness for apple trees, maybe because of the sense of nostalgia that meandered by whenever she was around her. That sense of a slow, lazy day, the peacefulness of those days.

Chloe said nothing as they continued walking, apple trees in full blossom lining both sides of the path. She didn't want to interrupt Beca in the midst of her musings, she seemed to be lost in her own little world and Chloe almost felt like she was intruding just by being there. They walked on for a while longer in complete silence. Chloe, content with simply observing this almost serene version of the young DJ. Beca, still reminiscing about the 'good old days', if she could even call it that.

They were reaching the end of the path now, a small clearing with several park benches and a table was their treasure at the end of their journey. But they weren't the only ones to take the journey. One of the benches was occupied, facing away from the path, allowing its occupants an unrestricted view of the grove of apple trees. A woman sat in a wheelchair beside the bench, dressed in the typical hospital garb for patients. A couple of multi-coloured IV bags that hung from a portable stand were hooked up to a frail looking arm. Two people sat next to her on the bench, a man and a woman. All of them had dark hair and chatted amiably in soft tones. Their chatter was punctuated by several fits of intense coughing that immediately brought the man and the woman on the park bench to the sides of the wheelchair.

As the man and the woman rushed help the other woman in the wheelchair, Chloe got a glimpse of the man's face and much to her surprise, recognized him. It was Beca's father, Dr. Mitchell. Then somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered Dr. Mitchell talking to someone in a wheel chair with the same dark hair, could it be? Chloe turned to look at Beca, who had still yet to say a word, maybe she didn't see Dr. Mitchell's face. But one look at Beca told Chloe that this was a lie, she had seen her father. He was her father after all, she recognized his build and form.

Beca's eyes were wide with shock and her mouth gaped, trying to formulate her wild thoughts into comprehensible sentences. But she could not. Her brain was telling her far too many different and conflicting things. This could not be happening. All she could say was, "Dad? Mom? Is that Rachel?"


End file.
